


Dracula

by daniebanaanie



Category: f(x)
Genre: Dracula - Freeform, F/F, Vampire AU, vampire
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-27
Updated: 2016-11-06
Packaged: 2018-07-27 02:50:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 36,340
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7600579
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/daniebanaanie/pseuds/daniebanaanie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Krystal has always liked being alone, it used to be just her and her sister living their lonelisome existance... until that one day she met a certain girl, a girl that wasn’t afraid of who she was. Suddenly, being on her own wasn’t as appealing anymore as it always has been. A strange force pulls Krystal towards the brunette, a force she has never felt before.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. You better run

There was no sound coming from Victoria, Luna or Sulli's room when Amber got up from her bed. She shot a quick look at the clock; it was a few hours past midnight, around three o'clock. Amber didn't dare to turn on the light, afraid that her three house mates would wake up. Victoria was known as someone who noticed everything, even in her sleep, and Amber wasn't fond of the idea of waking her up now. As quietly as she could, she dressed herself. A pair of gray sweats, her favourite black-and-white lightening T-Shirt and a snapback were her outfit for that night, since she figured that no one would be outside anyway to judge her clothes.  
She checked if the girls were still asleep before she left the bedroom, but they were peacefully quiet. There was only a faint snoring coming from Luna's room. Amber sneaked out, towards the hall of their dorm to put on her sneakers. To be sure, she put her phone in her pocket, together with her earbuds. She'd just take a quick stroll and be back in half an hour... Or, an hour, maybe?  
Amber had always been glad with the location of their dorm. Luna had objected when their manager had assigned them this apartment; she complained that it was too far from the center. Unlike Luna, Amber had digged this place. Their apartment complex was big but nog extremely luxurious, which helped her to stay with both feet on the ground. Plus, it was located near a big forest, which was an excellent place for taking hikes when you can't sleep.  
She decided to knot her hoodie around her waist, in case she would get cold. Amber took her keys and put them in her pocket before quietly closing the front door behind her.

There was a nasty cold wind outside, that made her wrap her arms around her waist. Goosebumps appeared on her arms, but she decided not to put on her hoodie just yet. It had been crazy hot in the dorm and she needed to cool down a bit. Amber hit the road towards the forest, deciding the could use some air that was not polluted by the smell of cars' fumes.  
She wasn't scared or something. In fact, Amber liked the forest better during the night. Yes it might be dark but it was way more beautiful like that. The way the moonlight streaked over the leaves, leaving them glinstering was the way she liked it. It was mysteric, mysterious.  
Amber's choice to bring her earbuds had been the wrong one. Eventually, she didn't even put them in. The sounds of the forest were already entertaining enough. She knew some people got scared of them, but Amber just got curious. She wanted to know what broke that twig, which animal made that sound. At a certain moment, she even thougth she heard human-like footsteps, but when she turned around, there was just darkness. Amber shrugged it off and walked further, not paying attention to it anymore. It had probably been some sort of animal or something. A deer, maybe? Maybe a fox.  
Amber walked on and on, taking her usual stroll towards the forest. Once in a while she checked her phone; no texts of Vic, Luna or Sulli, which probably meant that they didn't even know she was gone. The time only passed slowly and Amber just kept walking, with only the moon as her guidance. She had eventually put on her hoodie, since the cold had started to get worse as soon as she got into the forest.

She eventually neared her favourite spot. There was this huge meadow in the middle of the forest. The trees seemed to all back up, opening up a wide circle for all kinds of flowers and grasses to grow. The group of deer that lived in the forest often stayed here, and it was Amber's favourite spot to relax. Often, she'd just come here and lay in the grass for a while. Thinking. Listening to music. Writing new music. It didn't matter. The meadow always cheered her up. But she had never been there at night, so she was curious to see how it looked.  
She started to walk faster out of excitement, ignoring the noise of the footsteps behind her again. She had already concluded that it was nothing, so she ignored it. Amber had to go slightly off road to get to the meadow. She pushed away some bushes, ducked under a fence and walked on. The trees were already getting thinner, standing farther away. Amber could see the meadow from here.  
When she finally passed the last few trees, she entered the meadow. A big grin appeared on her face at the sight of it. It had rained a few hours ago, and the grass was still wet, causing the moonlight to be reflected amazingly. It was a shame she couldn't sit down now, because she'd get all wet, but the view made up for it. Amber let her eyes go over the meadow; taking in all the flowers she could see. She was about to walk further into it, when she suddenly spotted something that didn't really belong here. She had to squint her eyes together to get a good look; she wore her lenses but they needed to be replaced so she wasn't sure what she saw. But even when she blinked a couple of times, the dark figure in the middle of the meadow didn't go away. No, now that she looked better, it seemed that there were two. One male, with his back turned towards her and another figure behind him where Amber couldn't identify the gender of. The only thing she saw was how white the skin of the other person actually was, almost as if the moon had transformed into a person.  
Amber stepped back a little, walking closer to the tree line, curious to see what they were doing there. She started to feel a little creeped out. The way those two persons were standing close to each other was rather frightening, actually. Her stomach twisted and turned, her head told her to get out of here. But the sense of danger and adventure kept her right at the same spot, staring at the two strangers. They seemed to be talking.  
Then, without any warning, the white person bowed foreward, faster than lightening and buried their face in the male's neck. An icy scream echoed over the meadow. Amber's eyes widened, her heart started to beat faster. The little hairs in her neck stood right up out of fright. With horror, she watched the male slump down on the ground. The other person bowed with him, still with their face buried in the neck. She saw the body convulse a few times, until it eventually went limp. Amber's breath stocked in her throat.  
When the body finally didn't move anymore, the person stood up. Their face was covered in a red substance. They whiped their mouth with the sleeve of something that looked like a really long cape. They looked down upon the body. Then, without a warning, they fixed their eyes suddenly upon Amber. The brunette wrapped her hand around her mouth to not yell like the male had done. Without hesitation, she turned around and started to run, too scared to look back.

Her sides hurted, her breathing hard and fast, but she kept running. She ran all the way back on top speed, only slowing down until she was near their building. Amber was dizzy and almost fell over because of it, but she ran up the stairs to their apartment, opened the door and stormed in. Only when she was safely under a blanket — she hadn't even cared to take off her clothes — she could catch her breath. But for the rest of that night, sleep wouldn't come. The only thing she saw, were those black eyes look at her, framed by a snowy white face.


	2. Yeah, I'll go after the lonely you

_  
"What did you say? A vampire?"_ Victoria scoffed, with her eyebrows pulled up. Their leader had her hands placed in her side, her eyes sceptically ran over Amber's face, looking for a hint that the younger girl was joking. But Amber was dead serious.  
 _"I swear it, it was a vampire!"_ she exclaimed again, louder this time.  
 _"What where you doing outside anyway, unnie?"_ Sulli asked. While Victoria believed none of the story Amber had been telling the members for past half an hour, Sulli looked at her wide-eyed, taking in every word.  
 _"I don't know.. I needed to take a walk, I guess,"_ Amber said quickly. "But that's not the point!"  
Victoria wrapped her arm around Amber's shoulders and pulled her closer.  
 _"We've all been very busy. This is our first week off in a few months, you're probably just stressed out,"_ she said, at which Amber frowned her eyebrows. _"Just rest a bit, I'm sure you were just tired, you didn't know what you saw."_  
Amber sighed and rubbed her eyes. She regretted staying up all night now; she indeed was very tired. She wondered if the vampire she had seen last night had been a hallucination. She had never had a hallucination before, so she wouldn't know what they were like. It had seemed so real though... but maybe that's the point of a hallucination.  
 _"It just seemed so real..."_ she mumbled. Victoria stroke over her hair and smiled.  
 _"Shall I make you breakfast? You're as white as a sheet, you could use some extra energy,"_ she offered. Amber nodded quietly. Victoria gave her one last stroke over her head before standing up and walking off to the kitchen.  
 _"For me too, unnie!"_ Luna chimed. The short girl grinned widely. Their leader turned around and gave Luna an unamused look. Victoria got two eggs out of the fridge.  
 _"Go make your own,"_ she replied. Luna's smile faded immediately and she pouted her lips.  
 _"And for me?"_ Sulli asked. Victoria looked around her shoulder. Her gaze shifted from their maknae to the pouting Luna for a moment. Then, she grinned widely and nodded.  
 _"Of course,"_ she said sweetly, before taking another two eggs.  
 _"Yah!"_ Luna yelled, while throwing her arms up in the air. They heard Victoria chuckle from the kitchen.

The members had bickered as usual that day. The only difference was that Amber hadn't joined. Normally, she'd be all in to tease Luna or Sulli, but her mind was still occupied with the vampire she had seen last night — or whatever she had seen. Even though she wanted to believe Victoria was right, it still felt too real. Those eyes had pierced right through her and into her soul. Could hallucinations be that vivid?  
Eventually, around 4 PM, she fell asleep on the couch. She had been thinking way too much, which robbed her of that last bit of energy she still had. There were no dreams, just complete darkness.

When Amber eventually woke up, she still felt incredibly tired. Probably because it was already dark outside. The lights in the dorm were still on, but dimmed. At first, she thought that everybody had already gone off to bed, but Luna sat next to her on the couch. Amber noticed that she had fallen against her when she had fallen asleep, with her head on Luna's lap. She was playing a game on her phone, with the sound off to not wake up her friend.  
 _"Why are you still awake?"_ Amber asked sleepily. She took a look at the big clock on the wall and noticed it was almost midnight.  
 _"I waited for you,"_ Luna said, without looking away from her phone. _"You clearly needed to sleep but it felt stupid to leave you here by yourself."  
"You shouldn't have done that, dumbass,"_ Amber said. She pushed herself upright and rubbed her eyes. She yawned. Luna gave her a sideways glance, chuckled and rolled her eyes. Amber smiled back at her. She stretched her body and let out a small moan; her muscles were incredibly sore from sleeping in one position the whole time.  
 _"Do you want to sleep with me tonight? You seemed pretty scared because of that vampire thing last night,"_ Luna eventually said. Amber looked at her friend. Her playful grin was still there, but her eyes had something protective and worried about them. Amber ran with her hand through her short hair and shook her head.  
 _"Another time,"_ she mumbled. Luna pursed her lips together a bit.  
 _"You sure?"  
"Yeah, I'll be fine."_  
Luna stood up from the couch and touched her cheek for a moment, carassing it. Amber looked up and leaned into her touch. It wasn't often that Luna displayed her fondness of her that way. They both had the very fun habit to annoy the crap out of each other. It was just their way to say 'I love you'. She sometimes forgot how soft Sunyoung actually was.  
 _"You'll to bed soon, though?"_ the shorter girl asked. A tiny smile had appeared on her face. Her eyes still expressed their worry about Amber but Luna seemed to give in. The brunette smiled and nodded.  
 _"Of course. I just need to take some fresh air and then I'll be coming,"_ Amber answered, as she jerked her head to the door of their balcony. Luna sighed and nodded. Amber smiled reassuringly. The other girl ran with her hand through her hair and yawned. She stretched her body and let a small moan escape her mouth. Her eyes seemed to have grown a little smaller afterwards. Amber felt bad for making Luna unintentionally stay up late.  
 _"Sleep well,"_ Luna eventually said. She waved for a moment and then turned around to walk to her own room.  
 _"Sleep well,"_ Amber mumbled. She heard a small 'hmm' come from Luna's mouth before the door to her bedroom shut close.

Amber stayed seated on the couch for a few more minutes. It felt like she had just woken up from a coma; she had to clear her mind a little before she could do anything. Eventually, she forced herself up. Even though she has just had a few nice hours of sleep, she still felt incredibly tired. But also hungry and thirsty, so she went to the kitchen first. As soon as she stood up form the couch, she could feel a faint headache rise. It pressed against the back of her head and left a dull ache. Amber shivered when her body started to notice the absence of Luna's body heath. It had gotten strangely cold in the dorm.  
She quickly made a sandwich and filled a glass with water. She gulped it down and filled it another time before even touching her sandwich.  
Amber ate her sandwich quickly and placed the empty plate in the sink. She took her glass of water outside, hoping the water and the fresh air would help her get rid of her headache and tiredness. Amber opened the door towards the balcony and stepped out. The same icy wind that had blown yesterday night was there and she started to shiver worse immediately. She stepped towards the edge and let her arms rest on it. Amber took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, closing her eyes in the progress. All she smelled was this sweet scent... something like parfume, maybe. It was different than the normal dirty city smell she breathed in.

The moon was full that night, just like it had been yesterday. It was a clear sky and the stars twinkled happily in the dark sky, letting their tiny lights fall upon the city. Amber enjoyed being outside and slowly started to sip from her water. The shivering dissapeared slowly, but she was still cold.  
 _"You saw me."_  
The suddenly toneless voice made Amber jump in surprisement. She let her glass fall off the balcony. It hit the ground twenty feet below with a loud bang and bursted into a million pieces. The brunette turned around and looked wide eyed into the eyes of the person she had seen in the meadow yesterday night.  
The person got out from the darkness, a bit closer to Amber, and stepped into the moonlight. To her surprise, she saw that it was a girl. Two blood red lips stood out against the whiteness of the porcelain skin, slightly parted, so the tips of two white fangs were just visible. Dark eyes had settled upon Amber's scared expression, examining, analizing it. There seemed to be no difference between the black pupil and the evenly black iris, causing the eyes to look like two black holes, sucking in all the light and leaving nothing but darkness. They were surrounded by black eye make-up. Long strands of chocolate brown hair fell across her shoulders. The cape that Amber had thought to seen last night, turned out to be a long black coat, that wrapped perfectly around the girl's body, causing her curves to stand out perfectly. Underneath she wore black jeans and leather boots. Amber noticed her nails were painted black too when she ran with her hand through her hair to adjust it. A golden chain with a cross hing around her neck, an odd detail that was directly grifted in Amber's mind.  
For a moment, all she could do was stare to the girl. She let out a shaky breath she didn't know she was holding when she stepped even closer towards her.  
 _"Yes..."_ she mumbled. Her heart was beating fast, trying to get enough blood to her brain to get her to fully grasp the fact that there was a real live vampire standing in front of her. Amber could barely look at her straight, but she forced herself to. She looked right in those black orbids. If she was facing death right now, she wanted to be able to look it right in the eye, figuratively and literally.  
The girl cocked her head a bit to the left, giving her the look of a lost puppy. Ah well, a very dangerous, dark lost puppy that you wouldn't want to pet. She took another step foreward; they were now only a meter apart.  
Amber felt weirdly calm. She had never been so close to death, and she had expected herself to be panicking. But she just... wasn't. Don't get her wrong; she was terrified of the creature that stood in front of her. She didn't know what powers she had, and if she was the one those powers were going to be used against. The girl looked lethal and scared Amber more with every breath she took. But she wasn't afraid of dying. It was almost as if she was in peace already. She didn't regret doing, or not doing, anything in her life. She was happy; the bonds with her family was great and she has a lot of friends. She had made a career. There was very little left in life to achieve. Maybe a girlfriend, yes, and a family, but she didn't feel that strong about those two. If she died now, she told herself, she'd be okay with that.  
And maybe the girl noticed that.  
 _"Do you know what you saw?"_ she asked slowly. Her voice was light and feathery, something Amber hadn't noticed the first time she had spoken. It'd make a great singing voice.  
 _"I think I know exactly what I saw,"_ Amber replied. There was no hince of fright in her voice; it was calmer than it had ever been. She saw the girl squint her eyes together.  
 _"Then you know what I am,"_ she stated. The brunette shrugged and nodded.  
 _"I think I do,"_ she replied.  
When the girl took another step forewards, their bellies almost touched. Amber gulped audibly when she smelled the strong sweet scent she had smelled earlier even better now, but stayed put. The creature was taller than she was, even though only a little bit. She opened her mouth to say something, but only licked her lips with the tip of her tongue. Amber couldn't help but to let her eyes flicker up and down for a moment.  
 _"You're not afraid of me,"_ the girl eventually breathed, when Amber had not leaned away only a slightest bit. A nervous chuckle left her lips and she scratched the back of her head.  
 _"Well, I mean, if you would've wanted to eat me, you would've done so already, right?"_ Amber chuckled. The girl frowned her eyebrows and stepped back, seeming to be a bit confused.  
 _"What's your name?"_ she asked, still with furrowed eyebrows.  
 _"Why?"_  
At first, the girl just stared at her. Then one corner of her mouth started to pull up and it didn't take long for her to burst out into giggles, hiding her broad smile with her hands. It almost seemed a bit shy. Amber blinked a bit confusedly.  
A chuckle left the girl's lips. The frown had dissapeared off her face. Amber couldn't help to let her eyes slide towards her fangs, but then looked back up. The girl raised her eyebrows a little bit.  
 _"I'd like to know the name of the first human that doesn't run from me,"_ she said.  
Amber shuddered when the word 'human' left her lips; it made it only more clear that she didn't view herself as a human. Did she basically admit to being a vampire to her? The chuckling slowly stopped, but the hint of her smile still stayed on her face. Her eyes were still dark, but the girl seemed to be less stiff, a bit more at ease after laughing. It made Amber also being able to breath more easily now. Even though she was having a conversation with a vampire, she could feel the air between them cleared a bit. The tension had faded.  
 _"It's Amber. What's yours?"_ she asked.  
It was almost as if she had turned a button. The last remainders of her smile were immediately whiped off her face; the frown returned, causing her forehead to wrinkle. Her eyes looked down, away from Amber. She intertwined her fingers behind her back. The girl closed down again, and Amber became painfully aware of the cold wind that let goosebumps appear all over her body.  
 _"I don't have a name,"_ she said softly. _"And if I had one, it'd be better if you wouldn't know it."_  
Amber pursed her lips and thought for a moment.  
 _"Why not?"_ she asked.  
 _"I remember nothing of my.. other life,"_ the girl mumbled softly, almost as if she was ashamed of it. She ran with her fingers through her hair and let out an almost inaudible sigh.  
 _"Well, you need to have a name,"_ Amber said, causing the taller girl to look up. _"What about 'Krystal'?"_  
 _"Krystal...?"_ she asked.  
 _"Yeah, Krystal,"_ Amber repeated. She forced herself to smile. _"Because your skin shines as bright as krystals. Y'know, it's like, really white and such. Do you like it?"_  
The girl thought for a moment and then nodded.  
 _"I do,"_ she said. Amber's forced smile changed into a grin.  
 _"Great!"_ she said. _"So, you're not going to eat me anymore then?"_  
Krystal stared at her for a moment, then cocked her head again. She shrugged.  
 _"I don't know yet. You're different than the others,"_ she said eventually. _"But not today. I'm not even supposed to be here."_  
Amber scratched the back of her head.  
 _"I guess we'll see each other again then, if you decide to eat me,"_ she said, and chuckled nervously. Krystal showed a small smile and nodded.  
 _"I guess so,"_ she mumbled. Their eyes met for a moment, Krystal licked her lips again. The sweet smell was clearer as ever. She was suddenly painfully aware how sweaty she was. Amber took a deep breath and turned around, showing her back to the girl. She opened the door towards the apartment again and wanted to walk back in, but then stopped. The door knob was still in her hand when she turned around to say goodbye to Krystal, but the balcony was empty. Krystal was gone, leaving only the faint smell of her sweet scent behind. Amber exhaled slowly and rubbed in her eyes.  
Twice in a row couldn't be an illusion, right?

_______________________________________________________

_"She's different,"_ Soojung mumbled. Sooyeon placed her hands in her side and looked strictly at her younger sister. She sighed; she couldn't believe her.  
 _"Different?"_ she spat out, as if the word was poison on her tongue. _"How can a human be different?"_  
Soojung shrugged and let herself fall on their couch. Heaps of dust flew up into the air when Soojung's body collided with the old pillows. They smelled funny, like old people.  
 _"I don't know, she just is,"_ she mumbled.  
Sooyeon rolled with her eyes and crossed her arms in front of her body.  
 _"She saw you, Soojung,"_ Sooyeon reminded her. _"She saw you murdering someone and drinking their blood. Humans are all the same. Sooner or later, they'll betray you. You shouldn't visit her anymore, Soojung. It's dangerous."_  
Soojung shook her head.  
 _"Amber doesn't seem the girl to do that. She didn't run away from me when I visit her, and I-"  
"Amber?"_Sooyeon hissed. _"You already know her name? You really talked to her?"_  
Soojung bit down on her lip and shrugged again, not daring to look at her sister. Well, they weren't really sisters, they just called each other that. Sooyeon was the first thing Soojung saw when she had woken up in this life and ever since then, they had stayed together, looking out for each other. They had given each other the names Sooyeon and Soojung, but Soojung found that she liked Krystal better.  
 _"It's not a big deal,"_ she said. Soojung waved with her hand to show how little it meant. But did it really mean a little? She had been surprised when Amber didn't run away. She had neither been startled, or at least not enough to scream or actually show it. Soojung had been curious why, and she still was. She was intrueged by the short haired girl, and the urge to visit her again became bigger with every passing second.  
Sooyeon sighed audibly.  
 _"Soojung, we talked about this. You can't see her again. Things'll end badly if you do,"_ she warned. Soojung looked up and shot her sister a deadly glare.  
 _"You don't own me, Sooyeon,"_ she answered back. As much as she loved her sister, this was her decision. Sooyeon sat down next to her and grabbed her hand protectively. Soojung wanted to take her hand back, but her sister kept pinching in it.  
 _"No. But I want what's bets for you. Take the advice from someone with experience; getting close to a human is asking for trouble."_


	3. You'll get thirsty, your heart will feel weird

Another sleepless night.  
Only this time, Amber wasn't afraid to close her eyes. She tried so hard to fall asleep, but every time her mind wandered back to Krystal. And not necessarily Krystal herself, but she started to question the whole idea of life. If vampires existed, did that mean other mythological creatures did too? She was lied to her whole life and she hadn't even known. If vampires really existed, and this wasn't some cruel joke, then what was their life like? How did they live? Did they live average days as normal human beings, in a nice house with bills to pay? Did they have careers? Or did they hide in the forest to lurke at unknowingly bypassers? Did they only like human blood, or animal blood too? Did they still like human food? Did it poison them or did it just disgust them? You'd think human food would either be really disgusting or poisonous for them to choose blood over normal food, right? And what about the fangs? If they lived normal lives, did they hide their fangs? And what about strengths? In the myths vampires were pictures as creatures with incredible strength. Did Krystal have the power to rip her apart, limb for limb? Or did vampires have more special gifts, like in Twilight? Did they have fast speed?  
It was confusing, but she couldn't set herself to not think about it anymore. She had always been a curious person; she loved to learn. She wanted to know if there were other vampires, or if it was just Krystal. She wanted to know all the answers to the questions above. More than all, she wanted Krystal to visit again. Because even though the girl had scared the crap out of her, she also had this quiet, closed-off air about her that Amber wanted to explore.

When Amber emerged from her room around half past 8 — she didn't want to raise suspision by getting out earlier — she tried to secretly sneak to the bathroom to fix her face. Two sleepless nights in a row had left its impression on her skin and there were now big dark circles underneath her eyes. She didn't want the members to see them. They'd worry for sure.  
She opened the door to the bathroom and stumbled almost right into Luna's arm. Amber tried to look away, but she already saw the shorter girl's eyebrows frown deeply. She had forgotten that Luna never locks the door whilst applying make-up.  
_"You told me you'd be fine!"_ she hissed quietly. Amber ran with her hand through her hair; she didn't dare to look at her friend.  
_"Yeah, well, I tried to sleep and such but, you know, I kept thinking.."_ she mumbled softly. Luna placed her hands on her hips and huffed.  
_"About that vampire? Amber, you told me you'd be fine tonight! I thought it was a one time thing,"_ she said annoyedly. Amber sighed.  
_"Yeah, it was, I swear,"_ she replied. _"I'll promise everything will be alright tonight."_  
"Yes, because you'll be staying with me," Luna said strictly. The shorter girl looked up at Amber with a look that said she didn't want to hear any 'but's'. _"Now fix your eyes. You look like shit."_  
A little smile appeared on the shorter girl's face. Amber smiled back, glad Luna wasn't really mad at her, and chuckled for a bit. Luna stepped away from the doorway and let Amber pass into the bathroom.

A little make-up performs miracles, Amber thought, when she got out from the bathroom again. The dorm started to live up a little, now it was almost nine o'clock. The door to Sulli's bedroom was still closed, but she heard Luna's favourite song play from the kitchen and she heard Victoria practise her lines in the living room. Amber went back to her room to change her clothes. Krystal was still in present in the back of her head, but she tried to not think about her anymore. Hopefully her friends could distract her a little bit.  


_______________________________________________________

Soojung was pacing through the room, turning and twisting, her mind occupied.  
_"Just sit down and relax for a moment, you're making me nervous,"_ Sooyeon said. Her sister laid on the bed, with her eyes closed, so Krystal didn't understand why how the other girl could feel nervous. She didn't sleep though, they never slept, but Sooyeon loved just laying down on the soft pillows and doing nothing. The bed smelled like old people, so Soojung barely ever laid on it. It was disgusting, really.  
_"I'm just standing,"_ Soojung replied. Sooyeon lifted her head, opened one eye and chuckled.  
_"Yeah sure, and I'm bungee jumping. You're pacing around; you have been pacing around the room for the last few hours without saying anything. What's up? Normally you don't get up from the couch until it's time to go hunting."_  
Soojung sighed and let her fingers go through her hair. It fell back exactly the same way, which annoyed her. Stupid hair, why wouldn't it change?  
_"It's nothing,"_ she simply said, before sitting down on the couch, like Sooyeon had implied. Her sister wasn't entirely wrong though; Soojung had been a bit unfocussed. After her meet-up with Amber and her fight with Sooyeon, she just couldn't stop thinking about the possibility to have more than one friend, a human friend. It was a weird dilemma. A lioness would never befriend her prey, but somehow, it seemed really appealing. It went against all odds, but that's the thing that made it appealing. Maybe Soojung also wanted to prove it that this could work out, unlike what Sooyeon had claimed. Getting close to a human is asking for trouble... Maybe she just wanted some trouble in her life. It was boring as hell.  
_"You're thinking about that human again,"_ Sooyeon concluded grumpily. Soojung didn't look up. Why did her sister know her so well?  
_"Amber,"_ she corrected. _"Her name is Amber."_  
"So? She's a human. Don't go near her. I won't say it a third time, Soojung."  
The brunette signed and closed her eyes for a bit.  
_"I guess you're right,"_ she sighed. She heard Sooyeon stand up from the bed — the springs creaked — and she felt the pillows next to her slump. Sooyeon's hand was cold on her shoulder.  
_"It's for the best,"_ her sister said. Soojung sighed again.  


_______________________________________________________

Six weeks had passed and Amber had gone back into her normal sleeping scedule. Krystal only barely visited her thoughts and she had almost forgotten about the weird happenings from a while ago. After spending a few nights with Luna, and not seeing Krystal, she decided that it had been a hallucination after all, like Victoria had said. It had been fun to think about the possibility of vampires existing, but she had to push those ideas away now.

The f(x) scedule also started to get busier and busier. She didn't have time to think about the supernatural anymore. The promotion pictures of Red Light had just gone out and the girls were preparing for their comeback. That meant a lot of studio hours, a few weeks of intensive dancing classes, a new hair colour, new clothes, a lot of photoshoots and the filming of their new music video.  
Amber's busy scedule made her forget about Krystal entirely. Sometimes she still found herself dreaming about the white face, but she always pushed it away quickly. She just had to concentrate on other stuff; she was too busy to be wondering about the supernatural. f(x)'s activities were tiring her out, but she also enjoyed them more than ever. The group was loved, the fans were waiting patiently for their music video to release in a month. There'd be a new album that they were busy editing at the moment. With that came the interviews and the performances. Amber always got such a rush out of performing. It was one of the best things in the world, to stand on stage, showing the dance and singing the song you had spend months on to perfectionate it... and hearing the crowd go wild. It wasn't hard to understand that Amber was excited for Red Light to come out.

At the moment, they were busy practising the choreography. It technically wasn't a hard choreo to master, but they most of the time was spend at perfectioning the dance. Moving exactly at the same time was diffecult and the group choreography needed to look great.  
It was about half past ten when Victoria finally called it a day. They had been recording since early in the morning until an hour or 4. Today's turn was Dracula, but even after all those hours, they were only half past the song. It was a diffecult one, that needed a lot of attention. She had heard their manager say it needed a lot of special sound effects that they wouldn't let the girls hear just yet.  
After that, they went to the dance studio. Their teacher had been there the first three hours, after that Victoria proposed that they should train on themselves. Amber had thought their leader had meant until 8 o'clock maybe, but Victoria turned out to be even harser than their dancing instructor. She agreed that the dancing needed more work, but still though... she was tired as hell.

Luna moaned loudly and laid down on the ground. Sulli soon let her head rest upon Luna's back.  
_"Don't do that, I'm sweaty,"_ she shorter girl mumbled. Sulli just 'hmm'ed in response and closed her eyes. Victoria was looking at the couple and slowly shook her head. Despite the grin on her face, she noticed that their leader was just as tired as they were. She was dabbing her face with a towel and drank water from her waterbottle in big gulps.  
_"I'm hungry,"_ Sulli eventually said. _"Does anyone have any food?"_  
"You aren't supposed to eat so late, your face will get bloated," Victoria answered. Sulli opened her eyes and shot her an 'I-don't-care' look. Amber agreed with Sulli; she was really hungry.  
_"I can get some. There was a 24/7 convenience store nearby, I thought,"_ she offered. Luna didn't move, only lifted her thumb to show she agreed too. Sulli started to grin and pleadingly look at Victoria. She squinted her eyes for moment.  
_"Please please please please, Qian!"_ Sulli whined. _"My belly won't take it anymore! It even hurts!"_  
Victoria sighed and rolled her eyes.  
_"Only if you get me some of those gummy bears,"_ she eventaully said. Sulli squeeled of happiness, then pointed her pleading look at Amber.  
_"Amber-unnie, will you get it?"_  
The maknae pouted her lips cutely at her and Amber rolled her eyes.  
_"Sure, why not,"_ she said. _"Anyone else wanna come?"_  
She had hoped that Luna would agree with her, but her best friend still laid face-flat on the ground, not moving. Luna didn't even reply to her call. Amber huffed. The other members complained slightly. Seemed like she was all on her own on this one.  
Victoria reached into her purse to get some money. Amber took it and left the studio, still butt-hurt that no one wanted to come with her.

It was cold outside, even though summer was on its way. She only wore her sweaty tank-top and that was less pleasant now that there was a chilly wind starting to set up. It had been hot as balls outside all week long, but now it just seemed weirdly cool tonight. Amber wrapped her arms around her waist to keep herself from shuddering. She decided to walk a little faster. The convenience store should just be around the corner...  
She was flooded with warmth once she got into the store. A relieved sigh left her lips when the goosebumps on her arms started to fade. Amber took a cart and started to take her stroll around the store.

A quarter later she stood outside again, with a bag full of snacks. It was their way to resist against the strict diets of their label and all the hours of hard work. Sometimes, a girl just gotta eat some junkfood, you know? Amber had managed to score some bottles of soju — even though Sulli wasn't of age yet — two bags of chips, Luna's favourite cookies and not to forget Victoria's gummy bears. Satisfied and quite some money lighter, Amber started to walk back towards the dancing studio.  
It was a ten minute trip, but Amber had paid attention well when she came to the convenience store. She was one hundred percent sure that she could cut off a piece of the route to decrease the time she'd spend walking. Well, okay, maybe not one hundred percent... Eighty maybe...? Sixty percent, probably. But she still wanted to try it.  
She walked into a dark alley, keeping her bag with groceries close to her body. Amber walked a little faster. Even though the dark forest hadn't scared her one bit — okay, Krystal had scared her, but the darkness hadn't — she did feel a bit nervous now. She set in a faster pace.  
Amber had almost reached the building when a sudden voice made her jump up. She let her bag fall, and the sharp pang of broken glass filled the alley.  
_"Didn't you bring your girlfriend?"_  
Amber spun around on her heels to face a person she hadn't seen in quite a while anymore. Two deep, black eyes were pointed at her. The white face seemed to glow in the darkness.  
_"I-I.. what?"_ Amber stuttered.  
_"The short-haired girl. Who recently got her hair dyed blue,"_ Krystal explained. Amber blinked her eyes confusedly. Then it hit her that she meant Luna. A chuckle left her lips.  
_"Luna's not my girlfriend,"_ she said. Krystal raised her one of her eyebrows and crossed her arms in front of her chest.  
_"What do you care anyway?"_ Amber asked jokily. Krystal's gaze shifted away from her eyes, back to the ground. She took a step foreward, away from the shadow that the high buildings across them let fall onto the alley. Amber could feel that this wasn't a question she liked to answer.  
_"How do you know she dyed her hair anyway?"_ Amber asked. Krystal looked up. She frowned her eyebrows together and let her arms drop by her side. The girl bit her lip, staying quiet.  
_"Have you been watching us?"_ Amber asked softly. Krystal didn't look up, neither said anything. The silence said enough though, and Amber needn't to hear no more.  
She couldn't exactly describe how it made her feel. Scared, defenitely, knowing that a creature like Krystal kept watching her and her friends. Not only was her life at stake now, but also Luna's and probably Victoria's and Sulli's too. She didn't want to endanger her friends like that. Amber herself didn't matter; she had already made peace with death, but Sulli still had a whole life in front of her, Victoria beginning acting career and Luna was busy writing songs and composing because she wanted to go solo one day maybe.  
But at the same time, she was also intrugued. Why has Krystal been watching her? If she had wanted to eat her, to suck out her blood and kill her, she could've done so many times. Amber had been alone at night more than once these past few weeks and Krystal had had enough opportunites to kill her. She couldn't help to play with the thought that Krystal didn't really want to kill her.  
And the silence. It almost seemed that Krystal was ashamed of what she had done. Amber surpressed the urge to step foreward too, to show the other girl it was okay. It actually didn't feel creepy at all. It was weirdly admiring. Maybe she was also a little bit glad that Krystal showed interest in her.  
_"The last time we met... I said we'd meet again when you made up your mind whether you wanted to eat me or not..."_ Amber said softly. Krystal's head jerked up. Their eyes met and the taller girl nodded slowly.  
_"Yes..."_ she said. Amber had almost forgotten how angelic her voice sounded. It was almost ironic; an angelic voice for a blood sucking monster. How can God be so cruel?  
_"Have you made your decision?"_ Amber continued. Krystal bit her lip again and let out a sigh. There was another silence, a silence which seemed to last forever. Amber could feel her heart starting to beat faster and faster. If Krystal now unexpectedly told her she actually came here to kill her, her life would be over for good.  
Krystal's gaze shifted up, until their eyes met again. Amber forced herself to keep looking into those dark eyes. The moonlight made them sparkle quite beautifully.  
_"You're stupid, but I won't kill you,"_ Krystal eventually said.  
Amber couldn't help it to laugh relieved. She ran with her hand through her hair and grinned widely. Even thoughs he wasn't afraid of death; she was still happy to live on.  
_"So.. does that mean we'll see each other more often?"_ she asked curiously. Krystal blinked surprisedly a few times, but then a small smile crept up on her face.  
_"Maybe, Stupid,"_ she replied.  


_______________________________________________________

Soojung had helped to clear the mess Amber had made because of her and showed her the way to the right building. Amber had probably want to cut off from her normal route, Krystal had figured out, but she had completely taken the wrong way. She'd probably would've gotten lost if it wasn't for her.  
She watched the short haired brunette go her way and she stayed in her mind a long time after that.

Six weeks. That was the time Soojung had managed to stay quiet. Sooyeon had adviced her upon staying in their house; she'd bring her, her prey so they could drink together. At first, Soojung had agreed with Sooyeon. If she was drawn to Amber that much, it was best to stay away as long as possible. Distancing yourself from someone made weird feelings go away. Eventually, if she stayed in long enough, she wouldn't want to drop by Amber anymore.  
Oh, how wrong she had been.  
In fact, Sooyeon's plan drove her mad. She had to stay in their house for five weeks long. Not allowed to get out and hunt or go to any other place. She was trapped in a too small cage and with every passing day, Soojung started to fight more against the person that kept her trapped; Sooyeon. She knew her sister meant well, but she wanted to get out.  
Eventually, Sooyeon allowed her to go back hunting again. It worked for a week or so; to just hunt and leave Amber alone. But eventually the urge had gotten too much. She needed to see her.

Soojung had watched Amber for a few days before she wanted to make her move. It had surprised her how often she was around the blue-haired girl, called Luna. Even though Amber was with the other two all the time too, she seemed to have a special connection with Luna. They teased each other, they slept together in each other's bed, they made each other breakfast...  
Krystal had wanted to stay away longer, but jealousy had taken control of her body and forced her to go to Amber earlier than she had actually planned to. Now that she had finally spoken to Amber, she didn't understand how she could've kept herself locked up all those weeks. Talking to Amber was liberating; as if she was just a normal human. It was addicting, to feel normal.

She defenitely planned on coming back.


	4. Hold me, trust me

It went on like that for a while.  
Krystal would visit Amber at night, whenever she felt like it. They'd talk for a few minutes. When either of them got too uncomfertable, then Krystal would leave. Easy.  
That was, until Krystal started to visit more. It used to be once a week. A casual Saturday night, or at the end of a tiring Monday. Amber found herself liking Krystal's weekly visits, and wished she'd came more. It was almost as if Krystal had read her mind, because soon her weekly visits started to come more often. Twice every week... Once every three days... Once every two days... Eventually she came every day. Amber noticed that she often stayed up late just to see Krystal and talk to her. She'd wait until the other members would go to bed and open up the balcony. Krystal would almost appear right at the moment she opened the door.  
It wasn't like they did anything spectaculair. They just talked, that was it. Amber loved it though. With every conversation, she came to know more and more about Krystal. For instance, that she had a sister. But that she wasn't a real sister, they just treated each other like that, and that she meant a lot to her. Krystal didn't know if there were other vampires. She did know that she didn't like any human food anymore. She tried to eat cucumbers once and almost puked because it was so gross, but she was into animal blood. She always has body lotion in her pocket or her bag. Her iPod was red. Each time, Amber got to know small facts about her that just made her marvel about how fun Krystal actually was to be about.  
It didn't take long for their conversations to turn less scary and tension-filled but more relaxing. Krystal smiled more; laughed even when Amber made her usual bad jokes. Amber didn't feel scared that Krystal would bite her or kill her anymore. She was sometimes still a bit worried that Krystal would go after Luna, since the girl showed some jealousy feelings towards Amber's best friend, but Krystal had promised not to harm her.  
Amber liked Krystal's visits... no, she loved them. She liked it when the other girl dropped by and they could talk. They often had conversations Amber couldn't have with the other members. It somehow felt weird to talk about the universe with Luna, whom she always joked with. Sulli was too young, too naïve and Victoria too old and independant. Sometimes it really felt like she was talking to her mom instead of a friend, and Amber needed a friend rather than a mom. It suddenly felt like her relationship with Luna was superficial; they had fun with each other, but that was it. With Krystal, she had fun on one hand and could talk about her deepest and darkest thoughts on the other hand. Whilst Luna had always been a great friend to her, Amber suddenly felt like she was less than what she needed. She had never really thought about it, but now that she knew how it felt like to have someone she could laugh and discuss deep problems with, she didn't want to go back anymore. Even though Krystal and she weren't doing much — often they just stood on the balcony and talked, or took a stroll around the city —she started to feel closer and closer to Krystal.

"Sooooo, you're a vamp, right?" Amber asked at a certain moment, during one of their meet-ups. It was only half past nine; a little earlier than Krystal normally came. It hadn't been such a tiring day, just perfectioning their choreography for a few hours, so she had been up for a walk when Krystal asked. The other girl preferred walking than sitting on the edge of the balcony all the time.  
Krystal looked up and frowned her eyebrows. Her forehead wrinkled.  
"Yes?" she mumbled softly, confused at Amber's obvious question.  
"Then like, do you have any special gifts or something?" Amber asked. She glanced at the taller girl from the corner of her eyes, but furthermore didn't want to show her curiousity too much. Ever since she met Krystal a few months ago, she had been wondering. At this point in their relationship she felt safe to ask a bit more about the things Krystal didn't necessarily wanted to talk about.  
"What do you mean?" she asked, still with a frown.  
"Like, uh, super strength, super speed, special night vision or something," Amber explained. Krystal turned her head to the redhead and pouted her lips a little bit.  
"I-I don't know.. I think I've become a bit stronger, but I dont think it's because I'm... different," she said slowly. "Because I have to work harder for my food, I guess.. But I also need less on a daily base, so I guess it's fine."  
Amber squinted her face together.  
"Really, though? That's a bummer," she said, a bit dissapointedly. "At least you don't sparkle as in Twilight."  
Krystal's frown grew even bigger. She even slowed her pace for a moment, causing Amber to walk ahead for a few meters before realizing her friend had almost stopped.  
"Twilight?" Krystal asked. "The twilight doesn't sparkle. It's a dark sky suddenly illumnated by a high altitude of sunlight."  
Amber's dissapointment dissapeared almost immediately and she started to grin.  
"You haven't seen that movie?" the redhead asked. She could almost slap herself for asking that though. Krystal had once stated that she had been transformed in 1989, and after that she and her sister Sooyeon had stayed underground. Well, not literally under the ground, but they had sought an abandoned house and lived there, away from society. Lateron their abandoned house had been broken down and they had to move towards this one, somewhat nearer to the city. Amber thanked God for that though, because otherwise she would've never met Krystal.  
"No..." Krystal mumbled. She turned her head away and bit her lip.  
"Oh damn, and never heard of it too?" Krystal shook her head. "-It's like the biggest bullshit ever but really enjoyable to watch. I even bought the DVD, but Luna stole it a while ago. It's also about vampires and stuff. There are also werewolves and everything."  
Krystal let out a chuckle and gave her a silly look.  
"I don't think such thing as werewolves exist," she said.  
"Well vampires exist."  
"But that's different!" Krystal objected. Amber shot her a look.  
"No it's not."  
The other girl rolled her eyes and Amber gave her a playful little push against her arm whilst grinning. Their usual bickering was the best. Krystal squinted her eyes, pretending to be mad at her, but eventually burst out in chuckles. Krystal used to hide her smile with her hand, but nowadays she just Amber be amazed by how amazing it looked on her face. The redhead couldn't help to laugh too.  
"Anyway, wanna watch it sometime?" Amber asked eventually, when their laughter had died out. Krystal's smile faded off her face.  
"Where? I've never been to the movies before... I don't know if I can-"  
She stopped her sentence and looked away. Amber knew enough though. She didn't know whether she was able to contain herself with so much people for so long in a small room, packed all together. It wasn't really hard for her to keep her fangs to herself when she was around Amber, Krystal had said a while ago, but when there were a lot of people, the sense for blood became stronger and stronger. That's also one of the reasons Sooyeon and Krystal had decided to live outside the city, otherwise they'd keep murdering people, and that was the last thing they wanted.  
Amber placed her hand on Krystal's arm and reassuringly stroked it for a moment.  
"We can watch it at my place," she offered. "The others will be there, but we can watch it in my room."  
"But.. your friends.." Krystal mumbled. She caught her lower lip between her teeth again. "I don't know if it's safe enough for them."  
Amber thought for a moment. Krystal had promised that the others would be safe, and she knew Krystal could contain herself around a few more people, especially if they went to Amber's room. It was weird that she suddenly started to doubt herself; hadn't she proved countless of times to be able to not attack with some extra people around? Especially if she had just fed the day before. She frowned her eyebrows.  
Suddenly it hit her. Amber blinked with her eyes as she looked up to the other girl. A small smile appeared on her face. Her hand sought Krystal's. When she felt her skin brush against Krystal's cold one, she let their fingers intertwine. They had never touched much, and to feel the smooth, flawless skin against hers made a shiver run down her spine. A good shiver. Krystal didn't react upon Amber, but neither pulled back.  
"You won't hurt them, Krystal," she ensured her. "It'll be fine, I promise."  
Krystal looked back at Amber and let out an exhausted sigh.  
"I don't think I would be able to forgive myself if I'd hurt any of your members," she said softly, almost inaudibly. Amber pinched her hand.  
"I believe in you."  
Krystal bit her lip again and took her hand back from Amber. A bit sad, she put it back into her pocket. Krystal ran with the hand Amber had hold only a few seconds ago through her hair, to push it out of her face.  
"Yeah, sure, Stupid," she eventually said. "Let's watch that movie."

Only later, when Amber had returned from their walk and finally laid in her bed, she noticed how stupid it actually was to invite Krystal over to her place. What would the others say?  
It sure wasn't the first time that Amber had brought over any of her friends. Ailee had been with them many times, and so had Riley and Henry and Scott. The others invited theirs over all the time as well. She was sure that they wouldn't mind it if Amber introduced Krystal to them... But she was just worrying. Not about Krystal's self-control around them, but the way she acted. Krystal was from another century and was clearly behind on a lot of stuff from the modern world. She didn't knew how the TV worked, or an iPad, or a phone. She had no clue what a lot of things were. Her way of speaking was a bit old, as if you heard a grandma talk in a high, angelic voice that belonged to a girl in the beginning of her twenties. Plus, how where they gonna hide the fangs? They were pretty visible whenever Krystal spoke...  
Amber sighed and turned around in her sheets, from her back to her belly, and buried her face in the pillows for a moment. This sure was going to be hard.  
But she wasn't going to tell Krystal that she couldn't come. Hell no, they were going to watch the stupidest romance movie in all history and enjoy it.

The next morning, when they had their communal breakfast, Amber decided to drop the question. Better do it while they weren't still fully awake.  
"So, is it okay if I bring someone over tomorrow night to watch a movie?" she asked, trying to keep her voice casual. Quickly, she shoved a spoonful of cereal in her mouth and tried not to act suspicious. It was hard to keep a straight face and keep looking down. It was silent for a moment.  
"If it's Riley again, then no! The last time she came over she cheated on Monopoly pretending it was Jack Jack's fault. I'm not getting screwed over by a dog again," Luna said, chuckling. Sulli laughed softly.  
"I gave her the idea. You always win, unnie," the younger one said. Amber looked up just in time to see Luna shoot a fake foul look to their youngers member. Sulli grinned and Luna rolled her eyes.  
"Who's it though?" Victoria asked, without looking up from her phone. She always checks her e-mails and texts during breakfast.  
"You don't know her yet..." Amber mumbled. "She's called Krystal."  
"Does Krystal also have a surname?"  
Victoria looked up for a second to raise her eyebrow at Amber, before looking down again. Amber took a sip from her drink, trying to buy time before answering. Amber doubted Krystal had given herself a surname, and otherwise she hadn't told her.  
She placed her glass back down on the table.  
"Jung. Krystal Jung," Amber said. It was the first korean surname she could think of and Krystal would just have to play along with it when she came over. They'd need to rehearse a bit before she could come anyway. Plus, it sounded pretty nice, right? Krystal Jung. Amber replayed the name in her head. It sounded very nice.  
"Does she have any social media?" Luna immediately asked. She already grabbed her phone to open SNS and start looking for her. Amber shook her head quickly.  
"She isn't much of a social media person," she said. Luna pouted her lips dissapointedly and continued eating, placing her phone back on the table. A silence fell over the table again. They were eating quietly.  
"So, it's okay if she comes over?"  
"Yeah, sure, why not?" Victoria answered. And with that, the conversation was done.

That night, when Krystal came, she told the members she'd go on a nice long walk, to clear her head. Since she did that almost every day this week now, they didn't look up from it anymore. Victoria waved her hand, Luna said a soft 'good-bye' and Sulli didn't hear her at all. Amber put on her sneakers and took her jacket with her.  
At the entrance of their apartment complex, Krystal waited from Amber to come out. A big grin appeared on the taller girl's face as soon as she saw her friend emerge from the building. At the sight of that, Amber couldn't contain her own smile as well.  
"Good evening, Gongju-nim," Amber joked. Krystal's grin was immediately whiped off her face and she shot Amber a stern look. She didn't like it to be called a princess, but she never asked her to stop either, probably knowing as much as Amber did that the name fit her. Amber had once started to joke about it, calling her a Princess because she cared a lot about her appearance, as well physically as in her habits and personality. She cared what other people thought and often seemed to be a bit cold and detached from the outside. Amber knew better though, but liked to joke around with the nickname.  
"Good evening, Stupid," Krystal replied back. Amber rolled her eyes and chuckled softly. She didn't mind it as much to be called stupid as Krystal minded it to be called a princess. In fact, she liked any nickname she was given. Krystal's 'stupid' was far from offensive, since the redhead knew she meant well. Krystal smiled cheekily and started walking down the street.  
"What were you doing?" Krystal asked, as Amber came walking next to her side.  
"Thinking of you," Amber joked, which resulted in a playful slap against her arm from Krystal. The redhead chuckled together with the brunette.  
They walked into their usual direction; towards the woods. They both preferred it that way. There were no smelly gasses of the cars, or other people they would encounter. Amber had been afraid to go back into the woods when she first saw Krystal in that meadow, but after she noticed that Krystal was probably as dangerous as a little kitten, her fear for the woods discreased as fast as her fear for Krystal. It was now their favourite place to go.  
As soon as they were away from the city and its lights, Amber started to breath easier. It was somehow freeing to walk through the nature like this, with Krystal by her side. At this point, she didn't have to anxiously glance sideways to look how Krystal reacted. The girl always kept her face straight — emotionless even — and stared straight foreward. At first, Amber had still been scared that Krystal would hurt her by luring her into some sort of trap, but as time went by, that idea dissapeared. At this moment, she trusted Krystal completely. They were friends, and friends didn't hurt each other.

"Are you still coming to see Twilight tomorrow night?" Amber asked. Krystal looked up towards her friend and raised an eyebrow.  
"I think so," she said. "Is that okay?"  
"Yes, of course," Amber smiled. "I talked it through with the members and they're fine with it!"  
Krystal bit her lip and looked down.  
"Did you tell them about my complication?" she asked softly.  
"No.. But I guess they don't have to know..."  
Amber looked up to the other girl and saw that she was still biting her lip hard. She saw her fangs press hard into the soft skin. She wondered how it couldn't bleed already. Krystal didn't look at her, and ran with her hand through her hair to adjust it, but it fell back exactly the same way.  
"Kind of hard to hide this big part of me, isn't it?" she eventually said, kind of bitterly. Her voice had grown cold. Krystal met her gaze and lifted up her upper lip, to show her white fangs a bit more. Krystal looked away and frowned her eyebrows annoyedly. She walked a bit faster, so Amber stayed behind a few steps.  
A bit confusedly, she saw her friend walk away from her. She ran back up to her and grabbed her hand, spinning her around.  
"Krystal, wait," she called. The other girl avoided her gaze and kept looking to her feet. "We can pull this off, I know we can."  
"I don't want them to think differently of me," Krystal mumbled. Amber felt she had a hard time talking about this. She didn't let her hand go, but pinched reassuringly instead.  
"They won't. I'll help you, okay? I'll think of something. We can fix it, and just watch that movie."  
Krystal looked up and pressed her lips together until they were nothing more but a thin red line on her white face. She nodded a few times, then took a deep breath.  
"Okay, okay then..." she mumbled. "Let's do it. But what if they'll see my fangs or something..?"  
Amber grinned towards the taller girl and shrugged for a moment.  
"We'll just say you're really into cosplay," she said carelessly. Krystal frowned her eyebrows and already opened her mouth to ask what's cosplaying, but Amber made a sign with her hand to shut her up.  
"It doesn't matter what it is, all that you need to know is that it'll save your ass."   
Krystal chuckled and rolled her eyes.  
"Whatever, Stupid."

During the rest of their walk, they practised what they were going to say and do when Amber brought Krystal back to the dorm tomorrow evening. They rehearsed their lines, because they'd defenitely be questioned by the others. Luna would be her usual nosy self and Victoria always detailed questioned the people Amber brought to the dorm; some kind of leader instinct, probably. The only person who wouldn't be such a problem would be Sulli, but even she'd notice the fangs if Krystal didn't practise talking without moving her upper lip too much. If she didn't, her fangs would be very visible, and they had to put up that stupid lie that Krystal liked to cosplay. That'd be awkward for everybody.  
After an hour or two, Amber decided to call it a day. She was tired from her activities all day and she became sleepier by the second. They started on their way back to the dorm. Amber glanced to her watch and noticed it was already midnight. She sighed and moaned softly, knowing she'd have to get up at seven tomorrow morning again. The busy life of an idol, great.

When they arrived back at the apartment complex of the f(x) dorm, Amber turned around to say good-bye.  
"Let's meet at the front at 8 PM okay?" Amber said. Krystal nodded shortly.  
"You're nervous?" the redhead asked. Krystal let out a little chuckle and shrugged.  
"Kinda, can you see?"  
Amber chuckled. "Nah, you look fine."  
In fact, she obviously noticed her friend's absent behaviour. She knew Krystal was constant worrying that something would go wrong, but Amber knew it'd be all fine. If something went wrong, then it'd be because of the members, and not because of her. Still, Amber's comment seemed to put her at ease a little bit. Her tight smile loosened up a little.  
"Well, see you tomorrow then," Krystal said. Amber nodded.  
Right before the moment Krystal wanted to turn around to walk away, back towards the woods, Amber thought of something. She turned around and grabbed Krystal's lower arm, pulling her into a hug. She heard an unexpected 'Oh!' coming from Krystal's mouth, but the girl didn't pull back. Amber wrapped her arms around her waist and laid her chin on her shoulder; Krystal was just a tiny bit taller than she was, to it was more than comfertable to do that. The sweet scent of Krystal's parfume invaded her nose and made her head dizzy. It took Krystal a few moments to adjust comfertably. She eventually felt the other girl's arms around her neck.  
Eventually, they parted again. A big smile was located on Amber's face.  
"Well, see you tomorrow!" she said happily, before turning around and walking back into the building.  
Krystal stayed behind, amazed and surprised at the sudden hug. She still didn't really know what had happened exactly. All she did know was that she had liked the way Amber had come so close to her.

The next day went by faster than Amber could've anticipated. Before she knew it, it was already 8 PM, ready to get Krystal and introduce her. Amber was very excited to introduce Krystal to her life. Until now, they've only told each other stories about their day to day life. Now, Krystal was able to get a taste of her life. Amber hoped that she'd also invite her over to her home someday, but maybe that was a little too much in a small time span. Who knows, maybe one day.  
When she came down, she immediately spotted Krystal in the lobby, waiting quietly with her earbuds in her ears on one of the couches. She had placed one leg over the other. One foot went up and down on the beat. She looked peaceful, almost in trance, but Amber already noticed the tight way her lips were pressing upon each other. She was drop dead nervous.  
"Krystal!" she called out, waving to the other girl. Krystal jerked her head up. Immediately a smile appeared on her face.  
"Amber," she replied, softer, whilst standing up. Amber noticed she wore more comfertable clothes than she normally wore. Krystal liked to keep on her long black coat, black tight jeans and boots whenever they met up outside. Amber had barely ever seen her in something else. But at the moment, she wore light blue jeans and Vans. The ends were rolled up, so her ankles were visble. On top, she wore a simple white T-shirt. She held a small bag in one hand. Her chocolate brown hair fell in slight waves over her shoulders. Overall, she looked like a normal person, a very good-dressed one in fact. The only thing that was a little off, was Krystal's white skin. But nowadays it was a trend to be as white as possible, so Amber hoped the members would just assume she was a fashion freak.  
Krystal noticed Amber looking at her clothes, and giggled.  
"You like it?" she asked.  
"Yeah! You look very stylish," Amber replied, grinning. "I mean, not my type of clothing, but like, you look very pretty in them."  
Krystal grinned.  
"Of course I do," she replied. The redhead rolled her eyes and chuckled softly.

They went upstairs into the elevator. Neither one of them said anything. Amber doubted if she should call out an 'elevator party', but she reckoned that Krystal wouldn't really be in the mood. The elevator doors slided open again at the level of the f(x) dorm. They got out and Amber opened the door.  
"Mi casa es tu casa," Amber chuckled, as they stepped into the hallway. Krystal shot her a sarcastic look. They both took off their shoes and placed them next each other's close to the door — Amber's Jordans and Krystal's Vans. Amber heard soft music play from the living room; that meant the members were close. Krystal frowned her eyebrows.  
"Just as we rehearsed, okay?" Amber said. "Let me talk to them."   
The other girl nodded. Amber took a deep breath and exhaled it slowly, before she opened the door to the livingroom.  
Immediately 3 pair of eyes were fixed upon them. Krystal gulped audibly. Amber took her hand in hers and pinched it reassuringly.  
Victoria was the first to say something. With a smile that looked more professional than meant, she emerged from the kitchen. She walked up to Krystal with firm strokes and stack out her hand towards her. Krystal blinked her eyes a couple of times, before slowly extending her hand and shaking Victoria's.  
"Nice to meet you, Krystal. I'm Qian," Victoria introduced herself. "I hope Amber told you a little about us?"  
Krystal nodded quietly. Amber grinned and nodded too.  
"She knows who you are," she explained. Amber had given Krystal a careful description of all the members. Victoria would be the most suspicious one and probably the one to step foreward at first, because she is still considered the leader of their little cult. Luna would probably follow and Sulli would be last, since she's usually quite shy around new people.  
"Still, we should introduce ourselves, it's rude if we don't," Victoria said strictly. Luna and Sulli immediately came foreward. Like Amber had predicted; Luna was the one to walk up first towards Krystal. They both shook hands.  
"Ah, your hand is so cold! Should we turn up the radiator?" Luna asked. Krystal quickly shook her head.  
Luna blinked a few times confusedly, but then smiled open-heartedly. Krystal's mouth tensed a bit. Amber pinched her hand another time to ask her to behave towards Luna. The longer they knew each other, the more clear it became that Krystal didn't like Luna that much. And otherwise she became extra shy due to the fact that Luna kept talking to her rather than to Amber.  
Sulli was the last one to approach. As expected, the maknae was a little shy, extending her hand slowly and shaking Krystal's quickly. She quickly introduced herself, then walked back to hide behind Victoria's back again.  
"So, shall we get all settled then?" Luna exclaimed. "I can grab some glasses, Sulli, you'll get the soda. I believe there are also a few snacks in cupboard. Let's get this movie night going!"  
Luna and Sulli already ran off towards the kitchen, whilst Victoria walked over to the large couch to shake up the pillows. Amber and Krystal shot each other an uncomfertable look.  
"Eh, Luna.." Amber mumbled. The shorter girl's arms were already full with glasses, which seemed like they were about to fall. Luna looked up and grinned.  
"I got your favourite glass too, don't worry," she said, before walking off towards the living room area and placing them clumsily on the small salon table.  
"No, that's not what I meant," Amber pressed on. "I was actually planning on watching Twilight in my room... alone... with Krystal."  
Luna looked up. A look of dissapointment shot across her face. It was gone in less than a second, but nothing escaped Amber's gaze. She knew her best friend too well to be fooled by the smile that appeared on her face.  
"Oh yeah, right," Luna said softly. "We'll watch something else then."  
Amber saw her gaze weaken. Her friend looked to the ground to hide her dissapointment, but the air between the five girls had already changed drastically. It stayed quiet for a few seconds.  
"Well, what about playing a game of Settlers of Catan, hmm?" Victoria eventually suggested. "You always love that game."  
Amber shot her a thankful gaze, and Victoria nodded to her. Luna lifted her head again, a broad smile on her face.  
"Duh, because I always win!" she said. "Dibs on the white castles!"  
"I'll get the game!" Sulli chimed, and ran off to get it. Luna immediately walked off to the kitchen to get them all something to drink and a snack.  
"Then we'll go to my room, okay?" Amber announced.  
"Yeah yeah, you go on. Want any food with you?" Luna said from the kitchen.  
"No, we're fine," Amber quickly said, before grabbing Krystal's hand and pulling her along towards the bedrooms.  
They quickly hurried to Amber's room, closing the door thoroughly behind them. They stayed quiet for a moment, listening to the sounds in the livingroom. They heard Sulli race past her room back to the livingroom, probably with the game in her arms, and glasses clinked together when Luna brought them all to the coffee table. Excited cheers when the game eventually began.  
Only then Amber was able to let out the breath she had been holding. Tiredness washed over her. The whole conversation mustn't have last more than 5 minutes, but it had tired her out completely. She ran a hand through her hair and sighed. She looked up to Krystal, who awkwardly stood in the middle of the room. Amber's eyes widened.  
Oh, she had been so occupied to get Krystal safely in her room, that she had completely forgotten to clear it up! With horror, she looked at the mess that was her room. There was a used sports bra hanging over the back of a chair. There was a half empty bowl of popcorn somewhere on the ground and a sack of Doritos on her desk. Dirty clothing was everywhere. She had forgotten to close her underwear drawer, so that everything was visible, and her sheets were unmade. The curtains were still half pulled in front of her window, so that her room was only dimly lit. And honestly, it smelled like someone just woke up here.  
All the colour drained from her face, so that she was just as white as Krystal.  
"Shit..." she mumbled. "I- ehm.."  
Krystal looked up to her.  
"What's wrong?" she asked innocently. Amber's cheeks coloured.  
"Are you messing with me? My room looks like a garbage dump!" she called out. "God..."  
Krystal looked around, like she was only just seeing the mess that was Amber's room. Her arms were wrapped around her body. She let her gaze wander across the room, in a neutral expression. Eventually, after taking in everything, she looked back up to Amber and shrugged.  
"I wouldn't know what's wrong with it," she said softly. Amber let out a laugh, and again ran with her hand through her hair. She walked up to her friend and wrapped her arm over her shoulder. It was a tad uncomfertable because Krystal was a bit taller than she was, but the brunette immediately slumped down through the weight of her arm.  
"Sometimes, I forget how innocent you are," she said. "Just sit down upon the bed and let me clear this, okay?"  
Krystal nodded, and sat down upon the bed, neatly with her legs crossed and her hands placed on her lap. Amber quickly cleared everything from the ground. Opened the curtains, closed her underwear drawer, got all the food out. It was hopeless to make up her bed now, but she guessed that that was the least of her problem.  
She got out her laptop and started it. Since she had promised that they'd watch Twilight together, she had downloaded it especially for Krystal. The brunette stiffened awkwardly when Amber snuggled up next to her, keeping the laptop on her lap.  
"Are you even comfertable in that position?" Amber asked, before the movie started. Krystal still sat with her legs crossed and her hands on her lap, her back as straight as a board. Krystal looked up to her, and swallowed. Eventually, she pulled up her legs and wrapped her arms around it. She let a bit of her weight lean upon Amber. The redhead smiled. She knew Krystal has a hard time adjusting to the behaviour of humans and that this was her first time doing a movie night. Amber had done this so many times with Luna already. It was just a natural response for her to cuddle up with the person she was watching a movie with. But all Krystal and she had done was hold each other's hand once. The brunette still had to adjust to her. But Amber was glad to know that she didn't pull away.  
"Let the movie night begin!"


	5. Hold my hand, I'll protect you

During the movie, a frown appeared on Krystal's face, that grew deeper and deeper with every new minute. Amber sometimes shot her a look from the corner of her eye, but she didn't look back, either not seeing the redhead look in her direction or ignoring her. They didn't speak during the movie. Amber's stomach was tingling of nervosity. The smell of Krystal's sweet scent filled the air. She had diffeculty concentrating.  
At a certain moment, she paused the movie. Amber looked up in confusion at her friend, who was still staring at the screen. She had paused at the moment Edward and Bella were laying in the flower field together. Edward, still deeply tormented over the fact that he is so close to a human, and Bella completely mesmerized by his beauty. Krystal's eyes were glued to the screen.  
"She falls in love with him?" she eventually asked, slowly and carefully pronouncing each of the words. Amber had to clear her throat before she could speak.  
"Yeah," she replied. Krystal's frown grew even deeper. It wrinkled her smooth forehead.  
"The human and the vampire fall in love?" she asked, clearer this time. Amber blinked in confusement.  
"Yes," she replied again. Krystal pursed her lips together, then rubbed her temples. She took a deep breath, closed her eyes and exhaled slowly. It was almost as if she tried to work away a headache. But then she opened her eyes again, and resumed the movie. They didn't speak before it ended.

"So, what do you think? Did you like it?" Amber asked, when the credits started to roll. Krystal cocked her head slightly, and turned her gaze for the first time from the screen to Amber's face. It was lighted by the blue light of her laptop. It would've been a bit scary, if Amber didn't know any better.  
"Is this really how the world sees vampires?" Krystal asked softly. Amber shrugged, whilst closing her laptop. She put it away.  
"It's a romanticized version. In most stories the girl gets eaten by the vampire instead of loved. But it's one way of looking at the supernatural," she said. "Not all people know you, so they make up their own stories."  
Krystal frowned again and pursed her lips a little bit. Amber looked at her. She let her gaze linger a little too long on her lips, but Krystal didn't seem to notice her staring. She corrected herself quickly, and looked back down.  
"Is it bothering you? To have people think you're either a vicious monster or some hysterical lover?"   
Krystal huffed. She whiped a strand of hair from her face, tucking it behind her ear, sighing deeply. It stayed quiet for a moment, then she shrugged.  
"Well, the monster part is true," she eventually said. "It's right for people to fear me."  
"Will you stay here tonight?" Amber blurted out. Krystal blinked confusedly at the sudden change of topic. A nervous chuckle left her mouth and she turned her gaze away from the redhead.  
"Ehm, okay? Why do you ask?" she mumbled softly.  
"So I can show you that I don't fear you and I will not fear you ever again."

And so Krystal stayed the night. She was allowed to borrow some of Victoria's pyjamas, since the leader had forbidden them to cuddle up together in Amber's bed just in lingerie. Since Victoria's height matched Krystal's the most, she leant from her. Sulli was too long and Luna too small.  
Amber wouldn't have objected it if Krystal had just slept in her lingerie, since it wasn't something she hadn't seen before. She had changed clothes so many times with the other members that she could memorize the curves of their bodies if she wanted to. But perhaps it was a good idea to let her borrow clothes, since they'd be sleeping in the same bed.  
Their label had chosen a perfect apartment to serve as dorm for the members, but they lacked extra space. It was just enough for the four of them to live together, but if another person wanted to stay over, they were obliged to stay together with one of the girls in bed.  
Amber didn't exactly know how she felt about the fact that Krystal stayed so close with her. Sure, they had had skinship before. Holding hands, hugging. But to sleep together in one bed was something new. Amber hadn't even done that with the other members — well, except Luna once — so it would be a big step to suddenly take. Sleeping together in one bed was often viewed as romantic, or done between two really good friends. Her heart started to thumb harder by the thought that Krystal might think of this as romantic. But then again, she wondered if the girl even knew that this was considered as romantic.  
Amber didn't speak out her thoughts to Krystal, and just took her in her bed. She was glad she had chosen for a bed that easily fitted two persons. She had always preferred smaller beds, but it really came in handy now. They laid together, with the blankets pulled over their bodies, just past their waists. Amber had turned in Krystal's direction. She laid perfectly still on her back, with her eyes closed. She breathed in through her nose and out through her mouth. She wondered why she even paid attention to that.  
"Krys?" she asked softly. Her eyes fluttered open immediately. Krystal turned her body to Amber, so that they could look at each other whilst letting their heads rest on the pillows.  
"Hmm?"  
"Do vampires even sleep?" Amber asked. Krystal started to chuckle. The corners of her mouth shot up in that small smile Amber had gotten to love.  
"I can close my eyes if that's more comfertable for you," she said. Amber smiled.  
"I don't mind. Just don't leave, okay? Not until I'm awake too."  
Krystal shook her head. She moved a little bit closer. Amber could now smell the fresh scent of mint coming from her mouth.  
"I won't."

She didn't know how it exactly happened, but during the night, they ended up cuddling. Amber had probably scooted closer in her sleep, Krystal hadn't pulled away. Maybe because she didn't want to wake Amber up, or maybe because she liked it. Neither girls knew. The redhead hoped the latter one.  
The next morning, Amber woke up with her arm around Krystal's waist, hugging her from behind. Their bodies were fully pressed up against each other. Somehow Krystal's skin didn't feel so cold anymore, or maybe Amber had gotten used to it over the night. She pretended to be asleep a little longer, just to enjoy it.  
At least, she would've pretended longer, if Luna hadn't called their names loudly from somewhere else in the apartment.  
"AMBER, KRYSTAL, IF YOU DON'T GET OUT OF BED NOW, YOU DON'T GET BREAKFAST!"   
Amber moaned. You could defenitely hear that she came from a family with strong voices, because their neighbours probably would've heard her yell too. Since she blew up her act of pretending to be asleep, she turned around, taking her arm off Krystal's waist. Would it be awkward if she let it stay there? It probably would.  
She opened her eyes, only to find the brunette looking at her. Krystal had turned around in the sheets. Because they had been cuddling all night, their bodies were still close. Their legs pressed against each other, almost entrangled. Krystal's face was near, and it made Amber's heart skip a beat for a moment. A small smile appeared on her face, which caused Krystal to smile too.  
"Good morning," Amber muttered, her voice still thick of sleep. Even though it almost completely dark in her bedroom, she still had to squint her eyes against the light that shone through the cracks of the door and the small gap between the two curtains.  
"Good morning," Krystal replied. "Did you sleep well?"  
Amber stretched her body, which caused a lot animal-like sounds to come out of her mouth. She heard her friend chuckle softly.  
"Like a baby," she said. Krystal chuckled again.  
"I think that we need to get out of bed," she softly said. The bruntte was almost whispering. And somehow, that only felt appropriate now. They didn't have to talk loudly, or even at a normal volume, because they were right next to each other. It felt more intimate. Even though this conversation of exchanging 'good morning's and other casualties was nothing special, it still felt like no one should participate. If Luna would barge in now, yelling her usual 'MORNING' at Amber, she would've thought of it was annoying and interrupting, whilst she normally would like it to hear it in the mornings, even when Luna would wake her up.  
Things changed when Krystal was around, and Amber wasn't exactly sure if she liked that and whether it was a good thing.  
"Yeah, I guess so," she said. "Otherwise I starve until it's lunch time."  
Krystal chuckled again. She gazed into the redhead's eyes a little longer, then she pushed herself up from the bed. In the process, their faces came a little closer for a small moment, before Krystal pushed herself away. Their noses had touched and Amber had closed her eyes automatically. When the feeling of the other side of the bed stooping because of Krystal's weight — that had gotten so familiar over the course of the night — had gone, Amber opened her eyes again. Krystal had gotten up from the bed. Her heart was drumming in her chest. Whilst biting her lip, she also got up from the bed. Her head was clouded, and the fact that she had just woken up had nothing to do with that. She was ashamed that she had closen her eyes so carlessly. Krystal was her friend. She couldn't let her hormones get to her head. She was good looking, but so were her other friends. She had never closed her eyes when they were close to her face though...

"I'll just go to the bathroom for a quick bit," she said. Krystal 'hmm'-ed back and Amber left the room. She wanted to make sure look at least a little presentable when she went back into her room.  
When entering the bathroom, the startled herself by looking in the mirror. Her hair literally looked like a bird's nest; it was horrible. And she hadn't even slept with wet hair last night. She sighed dramatically and tried to push the strands of hair down, but they just springed back into their previous position.  
"Why does this happen to me?" Amber whined.  
Another sigh left her mouth. She decided to wash her hair. Quickly she wettened it and rubbed shampoo in her red locks, until the shampoo turned red too. It had only been dyed a couple of days ago, so the water turned red as well when she washed her hair.  
Amber rubbed it dry afterwards, but not after splashing some water in her face too. With the towel still around her neck, she went back to her room. Carelessly, she opened the door and stepped back in.  
"Krystal, you can use the bathroom if you wa-"  
She stopped mid-sentence when she saw what Krystal was doing. At the moment she had walked into the room, Krystal had taken off her shirt, leaving her only in her bra. When Amber looked closer, she noticed that she had taken off her shorts already too. Her friends stood in front of her in just her black lingerie. It was sharply in constrast with her white skin. The girl looked innocently over her shoulder when her friend came in, and smiled.  
"Took you long enough," she said, smiling. "Can you hand me my clothes, please?"  
Amber blinked a couple of times, at first not understanding what the brunette meant. Her mind was clouded and it took a while before she understood what Krystal meant. Her eyes were glued on her body. It was a good thing that she still had her back turned towards her, but only her back muscles already were impressive. The sharp lines of her shoulderblade together with the soft curves of her shoulders and hips. Her pale skin flawless. She felt her blush returning.  
"I-ehm, y-yeah, sure," she quickly said. Amber turned her gaze away as soon as she could, and started to seek for Krystal's clothes. She had neatly folded them and had placed them on Amber's chair, where Amber had carelessly thrown her own clothing onto too the night before. She took them and walked back to her friend. The redhead forced herself to look at the ground when she handed them back to her.  
"Thank you," she heard Krystal mutter.  
"No problem," she replied. She surpressed the urge to look up.  
"So I could use the bathroom? Could you show me where it is after I've dressed?"   
Amber cleared her throat and turned around, so that she wouldn't be distracted anymore.  
"Yeah sure," she quickly said. The ruffling of clothes and skin sliding down the soft fabric reassured her a little bit. When she looked back at the brunette, she was fully dressed.  
"Just follow me," she said. Amber showed her where the bathroom was, explained the shower for when she wanted to shower, showed her the towels and different shampoos and conditioners, and then left her.  
Amber went back to her room and quickly changed her clothes. She decided to wear black ripped skinny jeans, with a simple white tee and a snapback. When she left the room again, she heard the shower run, and decided to already get some breakfast. Hopefully she'd be done then before Krystal was.  
When she entered the kitchen, it was awfully quiet. She got herself some of the leftover scrambled eggs that Victoria had made and took some toast too. With her plate in one hand and a glass of orange juice she walked towards the dining table, where her other friends watched her curiously. Amber sat down next to Sulli and took a bite of her toast. When she noticed that the other's weren't eating, she looked up.  
"What?" she asked, although it sounded more like a grumble than a real word, because her mouth was still filled with toast. Sulli started to chuckle, Luna looked away with a broad smile covering her face and Victoria coughed. She swallowed.  
"Why is everyone so quiet?" Amber asked. "Did I do something wrong or something?"  
"No, no, that's not it.." Victoria replied. Amber cocked her head, waiting for a further explanation for why they were all looking at her so weirdly, but the leader stayed quiet.  
"Where's Krystal? She must be hungry!" Luna said. Half past the sentence, she started to chuckle, Sulli joined her soon after. Amber raised her eyebrows.  
"She is showering.." she muttered.  
"Yes, she must feel very dirty," Sulli added. Amber looked to her junior and frowned her eyebrows, not understanding what the comment would mean. Then it hit her. Her eyes widened in shock.  
"You guys think we had had sex!" she called out. All three of her friends started to laugh. Victoria still tried to hold it in and covered her mouth with her hand, but Luna and Sulli laughed richly and gave each other a high five. Amber placed her hand in front of her mouth to hide her open mouth that she just couldn't seem to close. Her mind immediately went to the wrong places. For a brief moment she imagined what it would be like if they really had had sex... What if she had actually kissed her this morning, what if she had leaned in...  
Amber immediately forbade those thoughts from ever entering her mind ever again. She was disgusted with herself. How could she think of a friend that way?  
"You can't be serious," she murmered.  
"Well, didn't you have sex? She stayed in your bed!" Luna laughed, as if it was something obvious.  
"Riley has also slept in my bed with me," the redhead protested. Luna swatted some of her hair out of her face.  
"But we know you're friends with Riley."  
"Krystal is my friend too," Amber whined.  
"Yeah, but you didn't exaclty introduce her as a friend, now, did you?" Sulli joined in. Amber shot her a look.  
"I said she was my friend when she came yesterday evening."  
"She indeed came yesterday evening," Luna snickered softly. This resulted in Amber throwing the last piece of her toast to Luna's head. Her friend laughed broadly, and whiped the crumps from her hair and face.  
"I swear, you guys," she sighed. "Really, she's just a friend."  
"Then why would she say nothing to us? You two went straight to your room and wouldn't want to play Settlers of Catan. And on top of that, she stayed the night over. Riley only recently stayed over for the first time and we already know her for two years. So don't tell us Krystal isn't something special and just admit that- Oh, hi, Krystal! Care for some breakfast?"  
Krystal had emerged from the bathroom. Her hair was still a bit wet, although it was hard to see since she had bound it up in a ponytail. The look of her friend with a ponytail was a sight for sore eyes; she looked younger and more innocent. Less threathening, more like the girl Amber knew she was. Amber found herself staring, and only stopped when she felt Luna kick her from under the table. The younger one chuckled softly and the redhead shot her an annoyed look.  
She shook her head in response to Sulli, who had offered her breakfast.  
"Ah, no, I forgot to tell y'all. Krystal does a special kind of diet where she is only allowed to eat certain foods, so she'll eat at home," Amber quickly said.  
"A diet? But you're already so skinny!" Luna whined, whilst shooting the brunette envious looks. "I wish I looked like that."  
"Shut it, Sunyoung, your body is beautiful too," Victoria shushed her. "And you're sure we don't have anything to give her? I eat very healthily because of my own diet too."  
"No, thank you, I'll eat at home," Krystal said softly. Amber shot her a warning look, but Krystal wouldn't look in her way. She smiled timidly towards Victoria, with a somewhat bowed head. Luna and Sulli looked up surprisingly too, since they hadn't heard her speak then.  
"Well, shall I walk you to the door then?" she said. The redhead quickly stood up, and rushed over to her friend. She hooked her arm through Krystal's, and pulled her towards the hall. She heard a soft 'I told you that they were dating' from the table, but she ignored it, hoping that Krystal hadn't heard it.  
She shut the door towards the livingroom, so that they had at least a little bit off privacy. She crossed her arms in front of her chest.  
"You're so bold," Amber laughed. "Do you know how much could've gone wrong if they had seen your fangs?"  
"Well, maybe you bring out a new side of me," Krystal replied. She wiggled her eyebrows playfully. Amber huffed and raised her own.  
"Oh really?" she said. Krystal nodded. She smiled cheesily at Amber, which caused her to roll her eyes.  
"You're such a princess."  
"Is that a bad thing?" Krystal replied. Amber gave her a friendly push, which Krystal received chuckling.  
They fell silent for a moment. Their eyes met each other, and the two girls smiled.  
"Shall I leave, then? I bet my sister is worried," Krystal eventually said. With her fingertips, she adjusted the strands of hair that didn't fit in her ponytail, and tucked them behind her ear so they wouldn't fall in front of her face.  
"I guess so," Amber said. "I'll see you tonight?"  
Krystal nodded solemnly.  
"Of course. See you tonight, servant," she brunette said. Her eyes were twinkling when she laughed afterwards, Amber noticed. It made Amber laugh too. The redhead opened the door for her and bowed.  
"After you, my princess," she said. Krystal rolled her eyes and chuckled. She quickly put on her shoes, and got her coat, although only put it over her lower arm instead of putting it on. The brunette stepped out of the door, and waved to her. Amber waved back, smiling. She leaned against the doorframe. Krystal turned around and walked down the gallery, towards the stairwell that lead downstairs. Amber watched her leave.  
Suddenly, the brunette stopped. With frowned eyebrows, Amber kept on watching her. Krystal turned around, shooting her an apologetic look.  
"I'm sorry, I forgot something," she said. Krystal ran back to her, and pulled her into a hug. Her arms wrapped around her waist. She felt Krystal's chin in the crook of her neck. Amber was transfixed because of the abruptness of the hug. It took a few moments before she placed her arms awkwardly around Krystal too, hugging her back. Her mind had diffeculty processing what was happening, once again. But even then, she was too amazed to close her eyes. It seemed that Krystal really messed with her head this morning. Perhaps she was still drunk on sleep.  
Eventually, Krystal let go again.  
"See you tonight, Amber," she said. She flashed her a last smile, before turning around again, and walking off to the stairwell. Amber watched her, still transfixed, still amazed, with a beating heart.


	6. Look at me, love me

"Where were you last night? You promised to go hunting with me."  
Sooyeon stood with crossed arms in front of Soojung. Her sister was quite a bit smaller than she was, so she had to look up. But even a giant would've shit its pants when they'd see the look on Sooyeon's face. But Soojung knew her sister. She wouldn't get hurt, but this conversation would defenitely not be nice.  
"I was with Amber," she answered honestly. Soojung looked back to Sooyeon, who looked at her with such an icy glance that she could feel the cold creep up on her bones. It hurt her whole body and made a shiver run down her spine. Soojung swallowed audibly, but didn't look away. She had lived under her sister for so long that she felt she needed to step up. Her friendship with Amber was something that was only of her and Sooyeon had to keep her hands off of her.  
"You know how I think about that human," Sooyeon hissed at her.  
"Call her by her name," Soojung demanded.  
"The only names I'll remember are Sooyeon and Soojung. She is a bad influence on you, Soojung. Do you remember how you used to be?"  
Soojung sighed and ran with her hand through her hair, frustratedly. In the process she ended up pulling a few hairs out of her head because she had been too rough. In pain, she rubbed her scalp.  
"Yes," she answered. "I was miserable."  
Sooyeon blinked a couple of times. Her gaze softened for a moment, but turned back to the hard pieces of coal Soojung had known for so long. It was not often she saw Sooyeon soften up. This defenitely hit her in her heart. And it was meant to make her realize that Soojung really felt that way. It wasn't some way to turn over the conversation, and make Soojung in control. She didn't want to prove herself. She just wanted to explain herself.  
"I was a monster, Sooyeon. I fed off people because I liked it, not because I had to. We have to hide our lives. And even though it's disgusting that we've been brought back after dying, it's not too late to live. To feel alive. And I can do that with Amber. She makes me feel alive. And I want you to find someone like that too. I want you to feel the same way."  
Sooyeon's lower lip quivered. Her eyes were fixed hard upon hers, almost pierced through her head. Soojung didn't look away. Only her breathing speeded up.  
"You are not realizing that Amber will be your undoing, Soojung. Vampires and humans aren't supposed to live side by side, just like the wolves and the sheep aren't supposed to live next to each other. I know I can't prevent you from going to her, but don't forget my words."

_______________________________________________________

For the next few weeks it went like this; Amber would go down to meet Krystal; they'd do their usual round; and afterwards, Amber would be questioned by her friends. Ever since that she accidentally dropped that she was seeing Krystal, they immeidately thought the wrong things. Their ideas ran from cute dates to heavy BDSM sex meet ups, where Amber was the one being tied up, and Krystal the sexy mistress in a tight latex suit. Amber couldn't make them think anything else, so she just let them. Hopefully they would stop with teasing her soon. That day sadly hadn't come yet.

They started to watch more movies together. Amber noticed that Krystal actually hadn't watched any movie — except Twilight now — simply because the film had only been invented after she was turned. From that moment, she and her sister hadn't cared for new revolutionary inventions anymore. Sure, she had heard of it, but to really watch a movie to its fullest, she had never been able to do that. So Amber collected tons of material that she wanted to show her. Movies like Jurassic Park, Titanic, Pirates of the Caribbean, Jaws, Rambo and more. She wanted Krystal to experience the world she liked to dive into when she was bored. It was a good way to spend time together and get close more. They got more and more comfertable around each other. Krystal now laid her head on Amber's shoulder before she was fully adjusted yet. Amber often laid her arm around Krystal to pull her closer. They snuggled up against each other, with no awkwardness between them anymore.  
Krystal stayed over more too. Of course, that caused Victoria, Luna and Sulli to joke around more too. Jokes like 'How many times have you already done it? She came over trice this week. I'm surprised your not sore yet!' or 'I think I heard Krystal yell yesterday evening!' were made every night. Amber would reply with a grunt or something like 'Yes, of course, we were watching a horror movie', but they would never believe that. It was honestly very disturbing for their relationship. Krystal was well aware of it now, that Amber's friends liked to see them together. Luckily she didn't mind much, and just laughed shyly at the jokes they made, but Amber was ashamed that her friends acted like this to her. It's a good thing that Krystal didn't mind it. Hopefully it wouldn't change anything between them.

It was one night, when they were watching Romeo and Juliet, that Krystal suddenly paused the movie. It was rare that she paused a movie they were watching. She would normally ask something that she didn't understand. Like, for example, she didn't get what zombies were supposed to be when they watched Zombieland — a personal guilty pleasure of Amber's. Usually Amber would give her a short summary before they started something, but she already knew Romeo and Juliet, because she had read the book.  
So the redhead looked up in surprisement when Krystal stopped the movie, exactly at the scene where they kissed and had proclaimed their love for each other.  
"What's wrong?" Amber asked her. She looked up to her friend, who looked with a troubled expression to the screen. Her eyebrows were deeply furrowed into a frown that wrinkled her whole forehead. Her jaws were clenched, and her lips pressed together until they formed a thin line on her face.  
"What does it mean, exactly, to fall in love?" she asked. Her voice was softer than it normally was. It sounded troubled, as if she was forcing it out of her throat. Was she ashamed that she didn't know?  
"You don't know?" Amber asked. Krystal looked up from the screen, slowly turning her head to Amber. When they met each other's gazes, Krystal slowly looked down. She shook her head, and Amber placed her hand upon her friend's. The muscles underneath her thin white skin were tensed up, and her fingers refused to intertwine with Amber's. Nevertheless, she kept her hand on Krystal's, since she felt a strong need to reassure her.  
"I used to know, I guess..." the brunette said softly, almost inaudible. "I lost all memories when I.. changed. I don't know if I was in love or have ever been in love. I have only read about it."  
Amber pursed her lips and sighed. She scratched with her free hand at the back of her head  
"Well, it's diffecult to explain, you know. Feelings always are, especially love," she said. Krystal looked back up to her, and snuggled a little bit closer. She gripped at Amber's hand to keep it there.  
"Describe it then," she said. Amber frowned her eyebrows. For a moment she thought about what to say. Then she opened her mouth and sighed.  
"It's... wanting to be with someone, no matter what, " she started eventually. "As friends, or as lovers. As anything, really. You just want to be with them, and make them happy. You want to take their pain away, whatever they're suffering from, and make them feel loved. You wouldn't care about their weird habits, or whether they have a weird nose or many pimples. You're completely blinded. Even when you get mad at them, your heart will forgive them anyway.  
Your heart aches when they say good bye and your heart longs for them when they're not with you. You try to hang out as much as you can but it's not enough; it needs to be more even when that's impossible. You'd prefer to spend every hour of the day with them, even when you normally don't like to hang around other people much.  
Your mind starts to make up crazy fantasies; how it would be like to have her as your girlfriend. How would kissing her be? Supporting her when she feels sad? It breaks your heart when she is, but you would be the happiest person in the world when you see that smile on her face after you cheered her up. Your heart would flutter when you'd play with her hair, so casually. You long for her, to cuddle in bed with her. Making breakfast for her when she emerges from your room, still sleepy, in your shirt. You find yourself thinking that you want that, that you need that to feel alive. And if you can't get it, because she likes someone else, or you're just a friend to her, then you just agree upon that. You still want to make her happy and get that beautiful smile on her face even if that means she kisses another person at night. Her happiness is everything. Everything you get on top of that is just a bonus. Even the most selfish person becomes selfless when they're with their lover..."  
Krystal had listened with an open mouth to her. Her two dark eyes fixed only upon Amber's, sometimes dwelling down to her lips, who spoke so truly and honestly about love. The redhead couldn't look at her. Her thoughts were something private, and it was hard to share them, even with Krystal, so she had to look away. Then it almost became bearable. She didn't catch the admiring look in Krystal's eyes, but just stared at the ground.  
After Amber was done, it stayed silent for a while. Krystal was too baffled to say something, and Amber had said enough. Her throat hurt of the raw emotions that come out in words.  
"So.." Krystal started eventually. "-it's a little like us?"  
This made Amber look up confusedly.  
"What do you mean?" she asked.  
"Well... we also hang out all the time. You played with my hair. We neither want to say good bye. We hugged, and I liked it for the first time. We see each other every night, and despite what your friends say, keep doing that because it feels good."  
This silenced Amber. Her eyes widened a little bit at Krystal's words. She knew it was crazy, but what she said was true. But that didn't immediately meant that they were dating, right? She wasn't in love with Krystal. Amber knew that she was interested in girls, but she didn't know whether Krystal was that girl. She had only once been really in love with someone, and that was a while ago. Even though she just explained to Krystal what being in love was like, she hadn't felt these feelings in a long time. To distinguish platonic feelings from romantic feelings would be hard... But then again, she wouldn't need that, because she wasn't in love with her friend.  
"We-we are not dating," she blurted out in response. She was able to hit herself, really. It was such a bad answer.  
"I know," Krystal replied. Her big puppy eyes were feeding on Amber's gaze again, and the redhead couldn't stand to look at them now. They were too beautiful and it hit her too hard at the moment that she thought of Krystal's eyes as beautiful right now.  
"I-I mean, would you, eh, would you want to be? Dating, I mean," she said, whilst turning her gaze. She felt Krystal shrug against her body.  
"I don't know what that's supposed to mean. What else would we do differently if we'd date?" she asked. Amber chuckled at her innocence displayed at her face.  
"Nothing, we'd only kiss, I guess," she replied.  
"Then we're almost dating."  
Amber frowned her eyebrows.  
"I.. well, almost, I think."  
"Is that a bad thing? You seem worried," Krystal remarked.  
Amber shook her head. Well, she was worried. But not about dating. It were her feelings she was worried about.  
"It isn't a bad thing," she said.  
"Are you afraid?"  
"Of what?"  
"Of me?"  
"No. Never."

In the past few weeks, Amber couldn't put Krystal's words out of her mind. Then we're almost dating... Were they?  
She started to think more about her feelings, and whether Krystal had a point or not. She tried to decide in simple steps whether her feelings for Krystal were more than platonic. Step one: was there attraction? That was easy. Amber was interested in girls, and she knew the kind of girls she liked. She was attracted to a lot of women, and could acknowledge someones beauty too. She thought that Luna was beautiful. Sulli and Victoria were beautiful too. Taeyeon from Girls' Generation was beautiful, Solar from MAMAMOO, Seulgi from Red Velvet. And so was Krystal. Her friend was almost gifted with beauty and she wouldn't blame anyone for looking over their shoulder when she walked down the street. She would probably have too, if she wouldn't have known any better.  
Now comes the hard part. Part two: how do you feel about her? And Amber was stuck at part two, because she had no idea whether her feelings were platonic or romantic. She tried to decide with simple tests which one it was. She compared Krystal to Luna in different scenarios. For example; would you rather spend a movie night with Krystal or Luna? She had spent a lot of time watching movies with both of her friends, but she found herself choosing Krystal. And with the upcoming tests, she also chose Krystal. Amber found herself choosing Krystal with every test she did, and it honestly terrified her that she chose Krystal over her best friend time after time. Whom would you rather cuddle with? Krystal. Whom would you rather live with? Krystal. Whom would you rather go out with? Krystal. Whom would you rather kiss on the mouth? Krystal...  
She was afraid of her feelings, and didn't want to acknowledge them. Because what if.. what if it was true? Then what?  
Amber didn't want to think of all the things that could happen. Bad concequences started to pile up in her head. What if she confessed to Krystal? Would she laugh? Be confused? Or simply get mad? She would turn her down. But if she would tell her she felt the same, that didn't mean they'd have a good relationship. Of course there was this big part of Amber that was worried about Krystal's lifestyle. She never talked about it, but Amber knew she had to hunt people to continue and live on. On top of that was Amber's career. The promotions of their new album, Red Light, had started. She'd get busy, really busy. Her life consists of business trips all the time. Could Krystal handle her not being home all the time? Could she handle the fans? Could she handle the life style that Amber brought with her? All those cameras, all that attention. Krystal liked to live in the shadows, and Amber liked their relationship to be in the shadows. But would that be enough? She wanted to hold her hand in public, like a normal couple would, but she wouldn't be able to.  
And when they'd break up, Amber would be devasated. Her heart would be broken, because not only had she lost her lover, she had also lost her friend. A person whom she had gotten so close to her, would hate her. She wouldn't be able to get through that.

And whilst she tried to pretend not to be interested in Krystal as her girlfriend, she noticed that she became closer and closer with the girl. Their meetings started to become more intimate, up 'til the point where Amber really felt like kissing her. That feeling terrified her, but it felt so good at that moment.  
They cuddled more, and not just on the couch. Krystal stayed over most of the times now, since she had admitted into being in some sort of fight with her sister. Amber hoped she would be fine, but also kind of wished that her sister would throw a scene a little while longer. Then at least Krystal would stay over more. Cuddling with her in bed felt amazing. Krystal's head leaning on her shoulder, her arms hugged around her body, her legs intertwined with hers. Every night, when they were about to fall asleep, Amber had to keep herself from kissing Krystal's forehead.  
And not just cuddling. They laughed more too. Krystal had completely eased up, also around the other members. They held hands openly in the dorm, and it had gotten normal for Victoria, Luna and Sulli that the two of them were always together. It felt good to hold her hand, and Amber would always reach for it when they weren't holding hands.  
The most nerve wrecking times were when they faces were really close. When they woke up in the morning — or, at least Amber would — they would be so close after spooning. Or when Krystal suddenly turned her head in Amber's direction when she stopped the movie. Their noses were almost able to touch, so close they were. And it took all of Amber's self control not to close those gaps. She felt horrible even thinking about kissing her.

Amber didn't know how Krystal felt. Every hint or signal she seemed to pass to Amber was completely innocent, and seemed not to be on purpose. Krystal seemed to be aware that Amber often got shy and speechless whenever their faces were together, but she either didn't get the obvious hints that the redhead was flustered or inteprented it as something different.  
Amber didn't want Krystal to know that her mind was thinking about kissing her constantly, but a small part of her wanted it as well. She didn't want to ruin their friendship, but if there was only a small chance of them getting together and Amber actually being able to kiss her, she wanted Krystal to pick up those signals. Sadly, her friend had no experience in love, relationships and kissing, so Krystal probably didn't even have a clue how Amber must feel. That was as much as a relievement as a burden to her.  
She literally didn't know what to do. It became harder every day to just ignore her upcoming feelings for her friend, and she was too love drunk to try to move on yet. At the same time it hurt that Krystal was so close every time without her being able to kiss her, to lock her in her embrace and to never let her go.  
Life in general just sucked for Amber. And now that she was busy performing too, she saw Krystal less and less. It hurt her heart to not being able to contact her. Luna often remarked that the redhead finally had some time for her again, but Amber couldn't laugh at the jokes. It made her nauseous. Victoria eventually pushed her to stop and tease Amber, because she obviously started to feel worse and worse.

Eventually, the members were granted a break that lasted a few days. After their performances and the trouble with the fans that made Sulli feel even worse than Amber, their manager had sceduled a resting period for the girls. The past few weeks had been full of promotions. Live performances, interviews, fan signs, photoshoots. Every day something new that caused the members to arrive late at their dorm, tired out, with only the want to sleep on their minds. There was no time for Krystal. Once or twice she came to lay in bed with Amber once she got home, but it was very little fun since she had to get out early in the morning and she usually was too tired to do anything but sleep. But the cuddles indeed were nice at the end of a tiring day and Krystal's soft, sweet voice in her ear, telling her she is doing a good job and that it's all going to be okay. It reassured her. But it didn't lessen her feelings. Instead, it made them stronger.  
The first night, Amber and Krystal immediately sought each other's company. Having missed each other for so long had been almost inbearable, for both girls. They were each other's addiction, each other's story.  
Watching a movie wasn't intimate enough for the both of them, so they just laid in Amber's bed. Krystal had bound her hair back in a ponytail again, and let her head rest upon Amber's shoulder. The blankets were pulled up to their waists. Around this time of the year, it was a relief to have Krystal's cold body next to her to cool her down. It was warm, even with the airco running, but maybe Amber felt warmer than she actually was because Krystal was so close to her again. With her arm draped over her body and their legs intertwined, they laid in bed like lovers did. Once more, Amber's heart was in pain. She sighed.  
"I missed you," Krystal blurted out, at a random moment. Amber looked down to her, one eyebrow risen.  
"I missed you too," she replied.  
"You really did?"   
Amber frowned and nodded.  
"Of course, I missed you. We haven't seen each other in almost two weeks. Why would you think like that?"  
Krystal shrugged, and turned her head away. Amber kept looking at her for a few more moments, then did the same.  
"I don't know," she muttered.  
"Well, you better get used to it though."  
"To you being away?" the brunette asked. Amber chuckled.  
"No, to me missing you," she explained. Krystal chuckled softly now too.  
"Oh, okay. I don't think that I mind. I haven't been missed ever before," she said. Amber placed her hand upon Krystal's cheek and charassed it by slowly letting her thumb rub circles over the soft skin. Krystal leaned into her touch.  
"Your sister must've missed you at least once. Don't you worry," she reassured her. Krystal 'hmm'-ed in response, and just closed her eyes. Amber didn't spoke for a long while. None of them did. The conversation had ended, in a somewhat awful way that left Amber with a worried feeling in her body. She knew that Krystal and her sister weren't on good terms anymore, and she had a bad feeling that it was because of her. She used to be so in awe of her, as if she was the best person on the earth. Nowadays, her sister only entered the conversation when Krystal spoke bad of herself. One time, she casually mentioned that no one loved her. Amber's heart had clenched, and she had forced out of her mouth that her sister would love her. The sisters have been together for decennia, they must love each other. But Krystal's reaction was cool, as if she didn't care at all. Or at least, didn't want to hear.  
"Do you truly think she loves me?"   
Amber woke up from her thoughts, missing the question completely. She had been thinking too much to even realize that Krystal had looked back up to her again. She cleared her throat.  
"What?"   
Krystal repeated the question. The redhead looked back at her and nodded solemnly.  
"Of course she does."  
"If she loves me, then how do you feel about me? If my sister treats me like that because she loves me, then there must be a stronger connection between us."  
Amber blinked in confusement for a moment. She opened her mouth to say something, but could get nothing out of her throat, so she just stared at Krystal with an open mouth, and widened eyes. A part of her wondered if the brunette was playing with her, basically inviting her to confess, but Krystal's beautiful brown eyes showed nothing but innocence. It was almost child-like, because she really didn't know.  
"Love exists in many forms. Your sister loves you in another way than I do," she said, only realizing afterwards that she might've said too much. Amber hoped that Krystal wouldn't pick up on her small mistake, but of course the brunette noticed it. She might not know a lot of nowadays world, but she had proved herseld countless of times very intelligent.  
"Then you love me? Like in the movies?" she asked. Amber bit down upon her lip and looked away, back to their intertwined hands.  
"Yeah, like in the movies," she forced out of her mouth. Okay, it was now or never, she thought. She basically confessed right now, so she had to go through with it, how awkward it may be. To turn back now would only leave Krystal with a more fucked up idea of love, and Amber would be lying. Her only chance at confessing to her would be gone.  
"Romeo and Juliet?"  
"Well, I wouldn't take poison for you and die, I'm sorry," Amber replied laughing. Krystal looked up to her and pouted her lips.  
"You wouldn't? I am offended," she said. Amber wiggled her eyebrows and shook her head.  
"I like living too much, sorry."  
Both girls chuckled for a moment, gazing into each other's eyes. The laughter slowly faded out, and Krystal cuddled up with her body against Amber's again. She let out a sigh. Krystal took Amber's hand in hers, and played with her fingers, slowly bending them, and straightening them again. The redhead let her. It felt good and reassuring, it took a few of the nerves away.  
"But you love me like they do in the movies?" she eventually asked. "Is that a good thing?"  
"Well, usually it is," Amber said. "-if things work out, of course."  
"Why wouldn't it work out?" Krystal asked. She pointed her beautiful eyes at Amber again, looking up at her. She looked back.  
"Because there are different kinds of love. And I could feel a different kind of love towards you than you do towards me. If they don't match, then there could be awkwardness. And our friendship could be ruined, if we think of each other differently, and confess if so," Amber explained. She was getting more and more nervous every moment, despite the fact that her friend was still playing with her fingers — she was now turning slow circles on the back of Amber's hand. Krystal was on the edge of understanding that Amber fell in love with her.  
The brunette frowned.  
"But I love you too like in the movies, then it's okay, right?"  
Amber frowned deeply.  
"What do you mean?" she asked. Her voice had dropped lower, a lot more serious. Joking about loving someone were not funny jokes, and she would feel really bad if Krystal was joking right now. She wondered if Krystal had enough knowledge of love to joke around with it. But her eyes looked as serious as Amber's.  
"Well, hopefully the same as you. Like you said, things won't work out if two people share two different kinds of love," Krystal replied. Amber's mouth fell open again. The only thing she could so was just stare at her, and Krystal stared back. Her eyes fluttered down to Amber's lips, but the redhead was too transfixed and occupied by her racing mind that she barely noticed.  
In a flutter of courage, Amber brought her hand up to cup Krystal's cheek. Before she would loose her bravery, she bowed down, closing her eyes in the process. Just before their lips would touch, she felt Krystal's hand press slightly on her chest. She could feel Krystal's breath on her lips — a sweet smell of mint and something sweet, like candy — and reckoned they were only a few inches away. But again, she was not able to kiss them. Her heart sank in her chest, her eyebrows furrowed together. Amber opened her eyes, and had to force herself not to lean down those past few inches anyway when she saw how close Krystal was. Her lips looked better than ever, her dark eyes — which were fixed upon hers — looked at her with sorrow. The redhead swallowed audibly when she saw her friend bite her lip. Had she ever been as attracted to her as she had been now, even after she had been turned down?  
"Are you going to kiss me?" the brunette muttered. Krystal's voice was soft, almost breakable. Fragile, like her body.  
"I was planning to..." Amber admitted. She looked away, not being able to look into those eyes without wanting her. Her heart was beating fast, her blood still rushed through her veins. Krystal hadn't bowed back yet. Amber had not taken her hand back from her cheek. Krystal's smell clouded her mind.  
"Don't," was her reply. "I don't know if it's safe."  
Amber couldn't believe her ears. Even after months spending time with her, even after reassuring her countless of times that she trusted her, Krystal still managed to get something of that out of her mouth. It's hard to unlearn habits, especially those who are self-destructive, but to Amber, it sounded like foolishness. Maybe it's because she was in love with her, and Krystal is currently the person she wants to spend every day, every hour with, but she couldn't imagine that Krystal would harm her. And she didn't understand that because of that small fear, Krystal would stop the kiss. If this was everything that stopped Krystal, Amber wouldn't hold back anymore.  
"I don't trust myself, Amber. And I wouldn't forgive myself if I harmed you."  
"But I trust you," the redhead mumbled. Krystal looked up and bit her lip once more. Their eyes met for a moment. Krystal looked at her in utter fright. She was scared to death, Amber noticed. Her hand shook when she placed it upon Amber's, which had slided from her cheek to her neck, to the back of her head. But Amber's was steady, and she was confident. She didn't doubt her friend; she knew she was safe in her hands.  
So she leaned in those last few inches, and slowly, tenderly pressed her lips upon the brunette's. Krystal shivered under the touch, and shakily gasped for air. Her lower lip shook against Amber's. Their lips had only touched for a few seconds, before Amber pulled back. She understood that it was hard for Krystal, and even though that she'd love to kiss her more, she wanted the brunette to take the other step.  
At the moment she wanted to open her eyes again, she felt her friend's lips crash upon hers again. Needily; wanting; they brushed over Amber's. Whilst the first kiss had been tender and sweet, with their skin only touching so little that it was like they were kissing clouds, this one was filled with passion. Krystal's arms slid around Amber's waist, desperately pulling her closer. Amber had been taken back by the sudden change of air when the second kiss happened. She hadn't been ready for Krystal to be so wanting, so intense. She had expected another tender peck on the lips, something small. Not a kiss that fuelled the fire in her heart, to let her body feel like it was electrocuted. Her fingers were tingling, every place Krystal touched was tingling.  
They broke up too soon to Amber's liking, when the need for oxygen became too big. Amber was panting, and so was Krystal, but they kept close to each other. It felt like this had been the last step to complete their bonding. This act of utter trust was something Krystal needed, and Amber craved for. Their foreheards rested against each other's, their exhausted breaths mixing. Her heart was pounding so hard that she reckoned Krystal must hear it too and her head was empty, whilst she had expected her thoughts to be running like race cars. Her body was almost numb, except one emotion; lust.  
She wanted Krystal. And Krystal wanted her.  
Amber couldn't be happier.


	7. Kiss me, reborn

Their kiss had brought them closer than ever. Amber realized that Krystal had been right all that time, that they indeed had almost been dating all this time. The only thing that had missed was the kiss, and now that they had shared their first kiss too, it was complete. Amber couldn't feel better, and Krystal had lost that last piece of insecurity. She had always been scared of getting closer to Amber and always kept a certain distance between them, even when Amber had tried to make a move. But now those bounderies had completely vanished. Krystal was closer than ever, and Amber would be lying if she said that it didn't make her feel happy.  
They didn't do much different than they normally did. Krystal came over and they watched a movie, or they went for a walk, or just listened to some music. They held hands, and cuddled together; both enjoying each other's company and touches. The only thing that they hadn't done before was stealing kisses in between. Sometimes a quick peck on the lip, but more than often it was a deeper kiss, once in a while even a make out session. At first, Krystal had still been shy with her affection. She had never kissed before, and if so, it would've been before she was turned, and she had forgotten everything of her otherlife. Amber couldn't imagine that she hadn't once been kissed in her previous life, and the thought already that some other guy, or girl, kissed her, made her hot with anger. Even when that person was dead already.  
Slowly but surely, Krystal started to loose up a little more, until the moment where she didn't hesitate anymoore when she bowed down to kiss Amber. With every movie she watched she gained a little confidence too. To see couples make out on TV made her want to try it too, and who was Amber to oblige? Their kisses variated from sweet drama kisses, where the male pressed his lips slightly upon the woman's, and they were both too scared to move, to furious, passionate kisses which left them both panting and a beating heart. Depending on their moods, they kissed differently. Amber also noticed that Krystal wasn't as innocent with kissing — and more — than she had appeared to be. Maybe she had let her watch a few too many movies, but when she felt like it, Krystal could get very sexy. It was something that flustered Amber a lot, especially when the brunette really didn't understand that it had a certain effect on her.

"Stop moving your... hips like... that," Amber breathed in between the kisses.  
They laid in Amber's bed, with the redhead on top, and Krystal underneath. She had wrapped her arms around Amber's neck, so tightly that she wouldn't be able to break free from her grip while their lips brushed over each other like they had done often this last month, familiar with the feeling of each other's lips against theirs. As if she ever wanted that.  
Krystal had wrapped her legs around her waist and was now thrusting her hips up, so that they moved over Amber's, creating flames inside her body, starting between her legs.  
"Why?" the brunette muttered. Her hips slumped down a little bit, but they were still very close to Amber's, and now that she had been turned on, every small motion of Krystal bucking her hips was now even more turning on.  
"Because you arouse me when you do that, dumbass," she managed to say, when they broke up their kiss for a few seconds. Krystal lay, panting, underneath her, and she knew it was already too late to turn back now. She had gotten horny, and she hated herself for it. To see her girlfriend lay beneath her, so cutely, innocent and not-knowing, made her scold herself for sexualizing that, when clearly she had no clue. At least, Amber thought so, but those thoughts were wiped from her mind when she saw the brunette grinning devilishly.  
"Oh really? Isn't that a good thing?" she asked, with that innocent voice of hers that drove the redhead crazy. Amber looked at her with an open mouth, unable to grasp that Krystal actually had wanted this to happen.  
"You are one sneaky little girl," the redhead mumbled. Krystal started to chuckle and placed her hand upon Amber's arm. A shudder ran through her body, which made the brunette laugh more. Amber moaned, and dropped herself next to her girlfriend on the bed, covering her eyes with her hands.  
"You're so mean," Amber said. Her voice sounded muffled through her hands. Krystal was still chuckling. Amber felt her lips on her cheek. She adjusted her body, so that she had wrapped one arm around Amber's waist and let their legs intertwine. It wasn't exactly helpful..  
"I am mean? I am not doing anything!" Krystal whined. Amber let her hands slide from her face, and looked at her with an unimpressed expression, which made her even more laugh. The brunette placed a hand in front of her face to smother her laughter, but it was very much in vain. Amber at least couldn't appreciate it.  
"No, really, I didn't know," she laughed. Amber shot her an unamuzed look.  
"Yeah sure," she mumbled. Krystal chuckled and innocently curled a finger in het brown locks. She looked up at her girlfriend with those cute puppy eyes that no one was just able to resist.  
"I promise I didn't know," she said. "Pinky swear!"  
Krystal let Amber's hand go and hooked her little finger around Amber's.  
"But I was hoping for such reaction, though," she said afterwards. Amber took her hand way and huffed.  
"So you did know!" she exclaimed. "You pretty little liar!"  
Krystal laughed cheekily.  
"Hmm, I was aware that this could provoke certain feelings, but I didn't know whether it would work or not," she admitted. Amber rolled her eyes and sighed. Great, so she had been a guinea pig for Krystal's dirty fantasies? She wasn't exactly sure if she minded, though, which made it a lot worse.  
"Well, it worked, you happy?" she sighed. Krystal pressed a kiss on her cheek, then let her head rest upon Amber's chest.  
"Yes, I am. Now I know how to turn you on," she said. Amber could feel her smiling broadly. Of course this was incredibly entertaining for her. Amber couldn't share the same feelings.  
"And you wanted to know how to turn me on...? Why, exactly?" the redhead asked. Krystal didn't look up, just chuckled.  
"Just in case," she replied. "Just because."  
Amber pursed her lips. She looked up to the ceiling, and placed one arm underneath her head. She had the other wrapped around Krystal.  
"You, perhaps, aren't ready already, are you?" she asked softly, after a while.  
"For what?"  
"Oh, are you really going to make me say it?" Amber grumbled. "For sex, I mean."  
Krystal stayed silent for a moment, then shrugged.  
"I don't think so. Not yet. I just wanted to try something. Is that weird?"   
Amber smiled. She took her arm from underneath her head, and ran with it through Krystal's hair. She felt the brunette relax immediately, and exlaim a sigh, leaning into her touches. Amber continued like that before she gave an answer.  
"It is not weird wanting to experiment. But like, maybe you can tell me first, because then I know to control myself," she said. Krystal laughed.  
"Took a note of that," she chuckled. "I will tell you next time."

Amber secretly was glad Krystal wasn't ready to have sex yet, because she neither was ready. It wasn't like Amber was afraid of having sex. She had had sex before, as well as with women as with men. The idea of sex was familiar to her, and she knew some tric and spots that would be liked. It was just that she was afraid of having sex with Krystal. In particulairly Krystal.  
Amber wasn't afraid to get bitten, or something ridiculous as that. Krystal had proved with their countless of kisses that she didn't bite, and barely had the urge to sink her teeth in Amber's skin, she had once admitted. Logically, kissing for Krystal was a lot more trouble for her than it was for Amber, but until now the brunette hadn't acted upon that small animalistic need of her body, and kissing had been safe.  
Having sex was something different. To Amber, is was just something that comes with a relationship, something you do when you both feel comfertable enough with each other. It could either be very hot and intense, or sweet and loving, which depended on her partner and both of their moods. For Krystal, Amber knew it was more than that. She knew that there were certain feelings attached to sex, and it was probably the highlight of their relationship for her. It frightened the redhead to know Krystal thought of it that way.  
Amber knew she wasn't the worst lover in bed. She had some skills, if she said so herself. She knew that she could make it Krystal's worth while and she had no doubt that whatever Krystal would do to please her in return, it would be enough and it would be magical. It was just scary to think that this was something that Krystal was expecting a lot of their first time, and Amber didn't know if she could live up to that. She didn't want Krystal to be dissapointed in her, but at the same time, she didn't know how to improve. She didn't want to lower herself as much by reading smutty fiction online to gain more confidence and skill, nor did she want to google for tips.  
She was glad that Krystal wasn't ready yet, because that gave her some time to prepare too. She wanted their first time to be special, if there ever was a first time. Amber was still fearing that Krystal might break up with her somehow. Everytime her girlfriend was with her, she took that fear away. She kissed her so tenderly and sweet, that it was impossible to even consider that Krystal might not love her. But as soon as she left the morning after — since she always spend the night nowadays — it left a hole in her heart, that came with an incredible melancholy. Dark thoughts entered her mind, and at least once a day she would be thinking about what would happen if Krystal indeed left her. How heartbroken she would be...  
And then to think that she at first had been scared of the girl, it was ridiculous.

With a hidden relationship, came the occasional slips, especially in front of Amber's friends. They had wanted to keep it a secret, until they were both sure about coming out, but they both weren't good at hiding things. Amber was just too clumsy and Krystal's cheeks flared up everytime the members made a comment. They sometimes forgot to let each other go when they held hands and entered the room. They were so close that even Victoria started to be bothered by the enormous ammount of sexuality. And last but not least, Sulli had caught Amber kissing Krystal's cheek when she was about to leave. She had barged into the hallway without knocking, and surprised both of them.  
So, it didn't take a long time before the members unraveled the truth. Also, kinda, because they were caught kissing. Not a quick peck on th elips, but a full french kiss with moans and everything. And of course it happened to be Luna who had seen them. It was as if faith was teasing her.  
Her best friend had walked without knocking into Amber's room, in mid-sentence asking whether she wanted pizza or fries tonight. If Amber had been paying attention to her, instead of having her mouth attached to Krystal's, she would've probably known the answer already. They admitted themselves twice a month a junkfood-day, and since pizza was Luna's favourite food, there was a very big chance that they'd eat that tonight.  
But Amber's mind had been completely blank, and she hadn't heard the footsteps in the hallway, sounding alarmingly close to her door. Now that she remembered it, she reckoned that Krystal had heard Luna, since she had felt Krystal pinch her wrists slightly just seconds before Luna barged in. Amber had been too far gone to pick up the signals, and had been completely baffled when the door to her bedroom was suddenly slammed open, and light filled the room. The redhead, who had been hovering over Krystal's body the whole time, threw herself off her friend, in a hope that Luna wouldn't have noticed, but the girl had already ran back to the livingroom, loudly screaming: "THEY WERE KISSING, I REPEAT, AMBER AND KRYSTAL WERE KISSING! SULLI YOU OWE ME FIVE BUCKS!"  
Amber's heart sank, and she literally felt like dying. Krystal sat up in the bed, and ran with a hand through her messy hair.  
"You know it was just a matter of time," she said.  
"I know, but that doesn't mean I have to like it," Amber grumbled. "Better to go and tell them now and be done with it."

So they walked hand in hand to the living room, where the three individuals that called themselves Amber's friends waited for them with broad, cheeky grins on their faces. Amber was literally able to shoot them now.  
Krystal was hiding a bit behind her back, which was quite a challenge because she was taller than Amber was. Her gaze was pointed at the ground, and a shy smile was covering her face. She held Amber's hand with both hands, and clearly waited for her to speak. Amber took her time, and let her gaze go from one member to the other. Eventually, she said:  
"You betted on us?"  
Luna and Sulli started to chuckle.  
"I won!" Luna chimed, waving her freshly won five dollar bill in the air. The maknae huffed in response and crossed her arms.  
"She's so mean, she takes away my hard earned money! Does it feel good, to steal from a child?" she asked Luna, with pouted lips. Luna pushed her. Sulli dramatically draped her body all over the couch.  
"You agreed to bet with me, and you lost. This is how betting works, my sweet baby girl," she laughed. Amber sighed, and shook her head. She rubbed with her thumb and index finger in her eyes.  
"Where did you bet for?" she forced herself to ask.  
"Whether you and Krystal would come out yourself or we had to drag it out of you," Sulli said. "I really had faith in you unnie, that you'd tell us yourself. I am dissapointed."  
"You're just jealous that I know her better," Luna teased. "Our Amber would never come out herself because that would mean endless teasing by us."  
"What are you saying now, Sunyoung? That Amber doesn't like our teasing?" Victoria asked innocently. The three girls burst out in giggles, and even Krystal chuckled a little bit. Amber couldn't laugh, and stared at them with a death glare, which, of course, made them laugh even harder.

After they were done laughing, Amber and Krystal got a chance to explain everything. Her friends were more mature than Amber thought they would be, and sincerely asked questions. For how long they have been together. Perhaps, one or two months since the kiss, and from then on they had started their relationship. When did they fall in love? Krystal didn't know, Amber guessed a month or three ago, just before their promotions. How far they had gone? Well, it hadn't turned into sexual intercourse yet, but they often had been half past the foreplay before they called it off because one of them was not ready. They were slowly getting there, but for now just enjoying whatever they were comfertable with. What their future plans were? Staying together.  
But of course, there was also time for teasing, even worse than before.  
As soon as Krystal entered the house at night, Luna and Sulli immediately started to cheer that 'Amber's girlfriend had arrived'. It wasn't not true, but it annoyed her nonetheless. Krystal was only able to mutter a small 'Good evening' with a shy smile before getting over to Amber's room. And they thought they were safe there...  
Luna barged in there because of reasons which were so unnecessary that Amber had once thrown a pillow to her face. 'Just wanted to check that you guys weren't having sex when we are around,' had been one of her arguments after barging in, or, 'Just checking if you guys use protection!'. Amber was literally able to kill her, or at least chase her with a pillow and give her a merciless tickle-death. Krystal often just laughed when Luna came in, especially at Amber's reaction.  
The romantic mood would completely dissapear after, which was probably the reason why Luna came in so much, but Krystal said she didn't mind it. Amber did though. But at the same time, she guessed that she would've been twice as bad if Luna got herself a boyfriend. And it could have been worse. At least they were teasing Amber, and left Krystal alone. She was able to handle her friends. Sulli had a secret affair to, where she could tease her with. Victoria was often in China god knows what she was doing. The only person that was completely innocent was Luna, who was the main causer of all the drama. When they were at the dorm, it wasn't even that bad, but once Luna had stated an obvious hint in an interview that Amber was in a relationship. Her cheeks must've flared up so badly, but luckily the interviewer had been too busy to question Sulli about her modelling career to pay attention to Amber and Luna. No doubt the fans saw it though. A day after there were at least ten different theories going around the internet what Luna could've meant in her comment, and why Amber's cheeks had gotten red. Luckily SM only viewed them as fan theories, and left the members alone.  
Amber had no intention of coming out to her fans. It was better for the both of them if they kept it a secret. Amber didn't know how the fans would react upon her dating, let alone a woman. She'd get so much more spotlight, whilst she actually wanted to stay home with her girlfriend.  
Krystal's secret would of course be unraveled, or otherwise she'd be bashed for not smiling on camera whenever the two of them came out. It was a vicious circle with no positive concequences.

Luckily Krystal didn't mind. Sure, there were some extra complicities now that the other f(x) members knew about them, but she didn't mind the occasional bursting into their room or the comments.   
"Does it bother you, then?" she asked Amber. They laid in bed together, Krystal's head leaning upon Amber's arm, her arms wrapped around her girlfriend's waist.   
"Kind of. I mean, I wished they would just leave us alone," she admitted. "Doesn't it bother you? Everytime we kiss Luna barges in. And whenever you aren't here, they make all these inappropriate sexual jokes.."  
Krystal chuckled.   
"Do you think it's funny?" the redhead huffed. "You're one of them!"  
The girl shook her head. Her fingers were drawing circles on her lower arm.   
"Do you remember what you said to me, before we kissed for the first time?"  
Amber thought for a moment, then shrugged.   
"That there are different types of love. Don't you see that their teasing is their way to express their love?" Krystal explained. Amber raised one of her eyebrows.   
"Since when did you become an expert on love? Wasn't I supposed to be the teacher instead of the student?"  
"Does that blow a hole in your enormous ego?" The brunette laughed. Amber let out a chuckle. She ran with her hand through Krystal's hair. Her girlfriend sighed of pleasure.   
"Yes, yes it does," she laughed. Krystal looked up to her and wiggled her eyebrows.  
"Better get used to it then, Stupid," she said.  
Amber laughed, and just let it be. Krystal placed her head back on her arm, and closed her eyes. The redhead let her fingers play with her hair, and her eyes dwell over her face, taking in every slightest inch of her skin. The high cheekbones and soft jaw. A small nose, and medium-shaped lips, not too plump or too thin, perfect as they were, with a healthy pink colour. Her skin that looked like porcelain, fair and pale. Two eyebrows that needn't any epilating. Her eyes were closed, but when they were not, they showed those incredible large puppy-eyes, that shrinked together when she laughed. The perfect little eye-smile. Only the memory of it made Amber smile already.  
And don't get her started on her actual smile. Not that half-assed tiny smile she always showed Victoria, but her real, full-blown smile that covered her whole face, seemed too big for it at some times. Where she laughed without being ashamed, with her fangs open and wide, not scared what Amber would think. Her laugh would fill the room, and Amber was literally able to get drunk on that laugh.  
She wasn't afraid anymore to admit that she had hopelessly fallen for Krystal. It was too obvious to deny too. She felt so strongly for the girl that it was almost inbearable. All these feelings rushing through her body whenever she looked at her. Amber felt a great need to protect her, to give her all the love in the world. Krystal had gone through so much, that it was almost unthinkable that she had opened up towards Amber. She felt blessed, she felt happy, she felt special. Krystal had chosen her. And it was almost too hard to imagine that she had chosen her to trust; to be friends with; to fall in love with; to love. Krystal gave her so much, that it would feel wrong not to give her the world.  
"I love you," Amber said softly. It was only right to say it now. It felt right, it felt good. And she wanted Krystal to know, more than anything.  
"I love you too," came the casual response. Her feather light voice was like a melody, a well timed song that not even the greatest composers like Mozart, Bach or Beethoven could've composed. Her voice combined with those words was the sweetest thing she had ever heard.  
"You know, for humans this is kind of a very big thing to say for the first time," Amber added.  
"I know it is. You are one of the two people that love me, I don't take your love for granted, Amber. The reason why I sounded so casual was because I know. I know you love me."  
Amber smiled some more, and bowed down to press a tender kiss upon her girlfriend's mouth. She happily kissed her back. Their lips moved over each other's for a moment, then they broke up. It wasn't passionate, but it wasn't the time for a passionate kiss. It was time for a short, sweet kiss. One that showed I-know-you-love-me. And they knew. They knew they loved each other. There was no doubt anymore.


	8. This isn't a dream

And with their first 'I love you', came their first time.

It had been a lazy Sunday afternoon. Amber didn't have a scedule, the only one out of all four f(x) members. Now that the Red Light promotions were over, Victoria had flown back to China to shoot a movie. Luna had a job as MC and Sulli a shoot. Amber was supposed to be writing for her solo debut, that was coming soon, but she just couldn't put herself to. She was down to the last song. Beautiful, Shake that Brass, Love run and Heights were done already, and had been recorded a few days ago. She was now stuck at I Just Wanna, which was supposed to be a love song between man and a woman. She'd be singing it with one of her best friends, Eric, which would be very weird to begin with. Then to sing about her 'baby boy', her love, was almost unbearable to write. Amber had written Love run and Heights thinking of Krystal, and so had she written Eric's parts in I just wanna, but it was hard to write her own, so she had decided to take a break.

Because the other members were gone all day, Krystal hadn't left in the morning, like she usually did, but had stayed all day. They had done nothing special, but now they were able to slump on the big sofa in the living room instead of Amber's bed in her small bedroom. Sprawled over each other, they watched Say Yes to the Dress on TLC, often commenting how ugly the dresses were.  
Amber didn't remember anymore how they went from wailing brides to very passionate kissing, but it happened, and she hadn't complained.  
Amber was usually on top, but it had happened now that Krystal was. It was a weird feeling to suddenly have her girlfriend hover over her, but it wasn't bad at all. With one of her hands placed on her hips, and her other arm wrapped around her neck, they kissed. It didn't take look to deepen the kiss, and Krystal was the first one to add her tongue. French kissing turned into neck kissing, which Amber surprisingly endured. It was usually Amber who started the neck kissing, because she knew how sensitive the brunette was for things like that. A small moan left her lips when she felt Krystal suck on her skin. Her two fangs stinged her skin, but they didn't pierce through it just yet. Her breathing had fastened, and her grip around Krystal's body firmer.  
"How far do you want to go?" she breathed. Her body was already heating up, and she had to keep herself from bucking her hips. She didn't want Krystal to become uncomfertable.  
Krystal lifted her head, and smiled widely.  
"All the way," she replied, before bowing down again and pressing a deep, long kiss upon her lips. Amber was too baffled to kiss back, or even close her eyes.  
"A-all the way? You mean like-"  
"Yes, like sex," the brunette laughed. She started to place sweet kisses all over her face and her neck.  
"Are-are you ready?" she managed to choke out. Krystal chuckled.  
"If you are."  
Krystal bowed back down to her neck. She let her tongue run over the spot she had just marked a few moments ago. A shiver ran down her spine and she gasped for air.  
"Why so suddenly? I thought you weren't ready yet," Amber choked out. Krystal lifted her head again, a little disturbed.   
"I was waiting for a moment like this. I am not going to have sex with you when Luna could burst into the room any moment. I wanted to make sure we had the place to ourselves. But if you don't want to, then we can do something else-"  
Amber shook her head immediately. She grabbed her by her waist and pulled her closer. Their lips slammed together, perhaps a bit too rough. She deepened the kiss quickly after and Krystal followed her lead.  
They broke up for a few seconds to regain their breath. With their foreheads sticking together, and their mouths so close that they practically breathed in what the other had breathed out, Amber sat back up straight. Krystal bowed back too, and got herself seated upon the redhead's lap, her legs spread.   
"I don't want to stop. I just don't want to make love to you on the couch. You deserve something better," Amber said. Her voice had gotten hoarse, and it broke sometimes, causing not all words to come out of her throat. But Krystal understood, and grinned. She wrapped her arms around Amber's neck when she stood up. Her girlfriend was so light that she had no trouble carrying her, especially when she had her legs wrapped around her waist.  
They spent the second best night in Amber's life in her bed. The best night of her life was the day she first saw her in the woods. Amber couldn't imagine how life must've looked like if she hadn't gone out for a walk that day, and she didn't want to know.

The sex had been great. Of course it had been. They hardly had to get used to each other's body, because they had often experimented beforehand. Of course, every body was different, so they had to seek for each other's spots, but as soon as those were found, it was a piece of cake.  
An hour after their first orgasms, they had begged for another release. They had laughed afterwards. Curled up in each other's arms, their faces still close, sweaty bodies pressed together. It was such an happy moment, that all they could do was laugh. Amber fell alseep in Krystal's arms, and Krystal watched over her, stroking her hair, pressing kisses upon her head.  
Amber woke up that evening from the front door opening and closing. Since both of them hadn't bothered to dress themselves yet, they quickly rushed from the bed and went to seek their clothes. Amber just decided to pull on fresh clothing because she couldn't find half of her garments anymore in the dark. She threw one of her flannels at Krystal, who had just put on her lingerie, and was now looking for her own shirt. She put it on, and together they came to greet the members.  
Amber quickly placed a snapback over her messy hair, and Krystal tried to hide hers by tying it in a ponytail. Their fingers were intertwined when they walked into the living room. Luna had agreed upon picking up Sulli from her shoot, so the two girls arrived together as well. As soon as Amber and Krystal entered, their conversation fell silent. Sulli watched them with large eyes, while Luna squinted hers together.  
"You have had sex," she said immediately. It wasn't even a question, but just a statement. Amber opened her mouth to say something whitty back, but all she could so was huff, turn her back towards Luna, lift Krystal up, swing her over her back and run back to her room.  
"YAH! Stay here you dirty animal!" Luna yelled back, who immediately ran after a screaming Amber and laughing Krystal. Sulli hopped after her, murmeling 'Oh God, oh God, oh God' over and over again.  
Amber ran back to her room and slammed it shut with her foot. She let herself and Krystal fall on the bed. In a mess of giggling limbs they tried to hide from a rigid Luna, but Amber's friend was too fast, and already slammed the door open before they could hide under sheets. Sulli entered after her, with her phone pressed to her ear.  
"HANDS ABOVE THE BLANKETS YOU HORNY LITTLE-"  
She couldn't even finish her sentence, because she was tearing the blankets from their bodies. Amber and Krystal desperately tried to get away from Luna's arms, but the redhead failed — mainly because Krystal betrayed her and pushed towards Luna as a distraction — and rolled off the bed. With a loud thud she landed on the floor. Not soon after Luna landed upon her, pinning her body to the ground with her knees, and holding her arms above her head.  
"Sulli-ah! Tickle her!"  
"But I'm on the phone with Vic-"  
"Put it away, let's give her the tickle death," Luna cheered. Sulli appeared besides her friend, with an evil-ish grin. The maknae bowed down and started to tickle Amber in the places the little one knew it was very tickles. Under her armpits, in her neck — which Krystal had marked only a few hours before with her teeth — and underneath her feet. She kicked and tried to free herself from Luna's grip, but she was too weak during the tickle session. She could only desperately try to keep Sulli from tickling her more. All her attempts were in vain, and she suffered a merciless tickle death.  
Krystal watched her going down from the bed, with her head in her hands, and a big grin on her face.

A few minutes later, when Luna and Sulli lost their interest in tickling Amber, they called Victoria back, whom had been abruptly been pressed away. They face-timed their leader, who defenitely wasn't amused. She first went on about that they were lucky that they called her during a break, because otherwise she would've been even more pissed. Luna let her rant for a while before she told her about Amber and Krystal's activities.  
Victoria fell silent for a moment, then hissed:  
"Give the phone to Amber."  
Sulli handed Amber, who still laid on the ground — defeated and still panting — the phone. Amber held it in front of her face and had to squint her eyes together against the bright light of the phone. Victoria had her eyebrows frowned together, and there was an expression on her face that was diffecult to label. Annoyance and anger were defenitely there. But she was mostly just so done with her members.  
"I haven't left for two freaking days and you're already doing irresponsable things?" she sighed. "What to do with you? I really need a glass of whine to handle y'all. Please don't tell me you banged her whilst the others were home."[/i]  
Amber chuckled, whilst whiping the tears from her eyes that had appeared from all the laughter.  
"No, we at least made sure they were gone."  
"If you did it on my couch then, Amber, I swear I will-"  
"Not on the couch! Only my bed," she replied, before Victoria could finish her sentence. Their leader sighed and shook her head.  
"I have to get back to the set. Please don't make another girl loose her virginity in our dorm when I'm in China, please."  
Before Amber could say good-bye, Victoria already ended the face-time call. Amber handed the phone back to Sulli, and let her arm cover her face afterwards.  
"I'm never going to leave you two alone anymore," Luna warned. "From now on, the door stays open!"  
Amber huffed from under her arm. She didn't lift it when she spoke.  
"As if we'd have sex when you're in the other room. Do you know how un-sexy that is?"  
This remark resulted in a kick to the knees, which Amber conceived in agony.  
"But unnie, don't you think it's romantic? How they are each other's first love?" Sulli added. Luna shot her a foul glance, warning her to speak no more.  
"No, they're both very dirty, and you will have to kill me before I let that happen to you," Luna said. Sulli blinked a couple of times and turned her head away with red cheeks. She pressed her lips together until a thin line and pretended to suddenly be very interested in a spot on the wall. Amber squinted her eyes and Luna gasped.  
"GRAB HER! A TICKLE DEATH FOR SULLI!" they both yelled at the same time. Sulli screamed when Amber and Luna started their pursuit. They eventually caught her because Amber jumped onto her and they crashed onto the floor in the kitched. The youngest girl was unable to do anything while Amber and Luna tickled her.

It took Luna and Sulli a few days to get used to the fact that Amber had had sex in the dorm — she had been the first one — and that her lover was constantly with her. Luna now got up from the couch as soon as Amber and Krystal were entering the livingroom, since she 'didn't know where their hands had been'. Of course, it was all a joke, and Amber could laugh about it. It was way funnier than the sex-jokes she made before, which were usually just plainly embarassing. Now it was Luna who was disgusted and red-cheeked whenever Amber and Krystal made jokes.  
Amber felt a little bit bad for her though. The f(x) members had made a rule, as soon as Sulli's birthday had passed, and she had become an adult. Victoria had suggested that they'd make a pact. No one was allowed to bring a man to the dorm, unless it was stated very clearly that they were friends. And even then so, they should stay in the living room, or there should be one of the other members with them if they went to the bedroom. Under those circumstances, Henry came over a lot, and didn't mind the rules of their leader, and thought of them as very reasonable.  
It prevented them to have sex in the dorm, which would be a bit awkward if it was found out. Amber hadn't broken the pact until the moment she and Krystal had had sex. Since she wasn't a guy, they were allowed to spend time into Amber's room without questions. The pact never said anything about not kissing, so they didn't broke any rules then too. They were just not allowed to have sex in the dorm. Because of their situation, it was a little diffecult to have sex anywhere else. Krystal wouldn't want to take her to the place where she and her sister live — although she spent more time in the dorm than with her sister — and Amber didn't have a place of her own yet. Ah well, at least they had done it whilst the members were gone.

In the weeks after, Luna was even more bothersome than usual. She indeed fullfilled her promise that she would check more often on them, and that they had to leave their door open. It was mostly amuzing. Krystal and Amber sometimes moaned very loudly on purpose, so that Sulli and Luna would hear them. It would only take a few seconds before Amber's best friend bursted into her room, with wide eyes of horror. At soon as the door flew open, the two girls would burst into giggles. It often resulted in Luna throwing a pillow to their heads, then making a dramatic exit whilst swearing softly.  
Amber and Krystal's relationship got therefor a lot more fun. They took small steps to get more comfertable around other people. At first only the members. They often came to watch movies with them in the livingroom. Their hands would be intertwined, and sometimes Krystal would lay her legs over Amber's, snuggling up to her. Sulli would often make puking sounds at them, but after Amber reminded her that she wasn't the only one whom had had sex recently, she shut up immediately.  
"You're so rude, unnie," she'd mutter then, which made the couple chuckle.  
As soon they got comfertable enough to kiss in front of them, they tried to take it to the next level. Amber and Krystal had never spend a lot of time outside together. Amber went skating sometimes, whilst Krystal watched from on top of the ramp in the skating park close to their dorm, adoring her girlfriend who fell time after time. Sometimes they took a walk through the park, but besides that, they hadn't gone out together yet. So they decided to take a stroll through town once. They just walked and walked and walked, for hours after each other, until their feet were sore from all the blisters and their muscles ached.  
Krystal had been very nervous at first. She was still scared to be close with people, even now that she had overwon her fear to be close with Amber. She was still weary of the members and didn't like to touch them, let alone brush her shoulder against a strange man in the crammed tube. Because of her nervosity she clung to Amber like a child clung to its mother, but she didn't mind. It took a lot of Krystal's self-control to stay still and not run away, especially when she hadn't drunk for a few days, but the redhead was able to keep her calm. Amber never questioned her about her need to drink blood to survive, and she honestly didn't want to. It was one of the few subjects between them which they both plainly ignored, for both each other's sakes. Amber was honestly disgusted that her girlfriend had to kill someone to survive, and her head started spinning when she thought about it. Of course, Krystal couldn't help it, but there appeared a bitter taste in her mouth when she pictured her, crouched over a convulsing body which was still moaning while she sucked the blood out of the vessels in their necks. Krystal's red lips with still drips of blood clinging to them would give her nightmares if she didn't know Krystal for the person she really was. It made it better to ignore that part of her, although she knew there was no way to hide it. There was too much of that embedded in Krystal's system.  
And sure, there were also flaws about Amber that Krystal rather didn't think about. It was a rather big deal for her that she was a celebrity. Amber was constantly in the spot lights, even when f(x) wasn't promoting. She was about to drop her solo album, Beautiful, which would cause her to get a lot of attention from the media again. Krystal had to watch out not to be spotted by fans with her, because that would result in nasty concequences for Krystal. The boyfriends and girlfriends from idols tended not to get very good responses from the fans. Sure, the MeU's were quite an easy fandom, but they still had their diffeculties and Amber didn't know how they'd react upon her dating a woman. It was therefor also a big step for Amber to go out with her girlfriend, taking a stroll through the city. She had to wear a mask.  
And besides that, Amber was gone often. Her scedule was filled well with interviews, shoots and variety shows, besides the usual performing. She was close with a lot of people, men and women alike, and Krystal always had a certain jealousy towards Amber's friends. Now that Red Light was over, they didn't have to perform anymore, unless SM Town was going to perform all together. But since the music video for Shake That Brass was about to drop soon, she'd probably be more on stage than at home. For a fresh couple, it was hard to be apart from each other. There always was this certain longing for each other, for the safety of each other's arms, when they weren't apart, and Amber noticed that she wasn't that concentrated when Krystal wasn't around.  
There were quite a few factors stopped them from going out, but Amber was sick and tired of staying home, and hiding her beautiful girlfriend. Krystal was open for going out once in a while, and trying something new. It was relieving and brought them closer together. Now they didn't just watch movies on the couch, or took small walks through the park where Amber had first seen Krystal, they really did couple things. Because of Amber's androgynous looks, a lot of people assumed that she was Krystal's boyfriend. And with a mask in front of her mouth, they didn't get recognized once.  
Krystal almost lived in the dorm by now. She stayed over almost every night, and was there when Amber came home from a diffecult day. It was almost as if they were married, at least, that was how it felt. Luna and Sulli had accepted her completely by now, and often teamed up with her to pester Amber. She was glad to see how well Krystal could communicate with Luna and Sulli, even when she tended not to speak much - still because of the fear of showing her fangs. Amber felt happy.  
It was perfect.

_______________________________________________________

Sooyeon became more angry with every time Soojung dared to come into their house. Now that she only stopped by once a week, she didn't see her sister that much, and it seemed to be more a burden for Soojung than it was for Sooyeon. The tables had turned. Whilst Soojung used to stop by Amber once a week, she now stopped by Sooyeon once a week. Her sister was mad, and she could tell. The time they spent together wasn't nice, and there were barely words said. Normally, they wouldn't say much to each other, because they both felt how much they liked their own space. But at least the silence had been peaceful. And when someone wanted to say or show something, the other person would react enthousiast. Now when Soojung wanted to talk to her sister, she ignored her, and shot her a foul look. Soojung couldn't quite pin down what was bothering her so much. Sooyeon had always told her to go out more, but clearly her visits with Amber only maddened her.  
Of course, it was partly due to the fact that Soojung had completely ignored her warnings, that vampires and humans couldn't live together. Until now, she hadn't had any diffeculty with it. Sure, when one of Amber's friends came a little too close, she wanted a little too much to bow in for a bite, because she wasn't used to their smell yet. By now, she had blocked Amber's smell from her mind, and didn't thirst for her anymore, but any other human was still diffecult. But she drank twice a week, which was one time more than she actually had to, so she often wasn't thirsty at all. But at diffecult days she rather wanted to stay in Amber's room.  
But when she tried to explain that all to Sooyeon, her sister plainly ignored her, claiming that Krystal would come around nce it would go wrong. Her precious Amber would betray her, because either her career was too important or her human friends to precious. And what would happen when Soojung would loose her self-control around one of them? Amber would never forgive her.  
And Soojung gave her her right. Sooyeon was right. If Soojung would loose her self-control, Amber would never forgive her. But she was so desperately in love with her girlfriend that she risked her own heart and the lives of other people to stay with her. Surely, she had thought about leaving Amber. She had wondered many times if it wasn't better — and safer — for everyone if she just went back to Sooyeon. Her sister would forgive her eventually, and Amber would forget her. But her love for the redhead was so big that it was too late already. She couldn't live without her anymore.

Soojung was worried about her sister. She wanted her to be happy too, or at least accept Amber as her girlfriend. But Sooyeon wouldn't even call her by her name, and constantly referred to her as 'that human'.  
"That human is literally disgusting," Sooyeon once hissed. "How can you be with her? I can smell her stench on you."  
"How would you know whether or not she is disgusting," Soojung said, from the couch. She didn't look at her sister, who kept pacing through the room, with her arms crossed. Sooyeon let out another hiss escape throug her teeth.  
"I've seen you."  
This woke Krystal's interest. She lifted her head above the rest of the couch, and cocked her head a little bit to the left, not understanding.  
"What do you mean?" she asked. Sooyeon rolled her eyes and huffed.  
"It isn't exactly like she closes her curtains very often. I didn't know you had a beauty spot on your left butt cheek, clearly she knew earlier than I did."  
Soojung's eyes widened in horror. For a moment, all she could do was stare at her smug sister, who finally won the conversation by shutting her younger sibling up. With an endearing look, she looked at Soojung, who was too flabbergasted to speak.  
"Y-you saw us during.." she tried to bring out. The word wouldn't come over her mouth. Sooyeon pulled a face.  
"No, what are you thinking of me? I didn't wathced you having sex with that human, luckily. I would never be able to get that out of my mind, so gross. I saw you get dressed one morning after you got out of bed with her," Sooyeon replied.  
Krystal's cheeks reddened, and she turned her gaze away from her sister.  
"You don't know what she's like..." she murmeled.  
"But I do know what you two have been up to, and it's honestly disgusting. How can you betray your own kind like this?" Sooyeon sneered. Soojung bit down on her lip.  
"Why are you like this, unnie?" she muttered. "Amber never makes me feel bad, nor do her members."  
"But they don't know what you are. And I do."  
"Amber knows. And she is the only person I want to know, and deserves to know. She accepted me, she wasn't scared of me. We fell in love and-" Soojung tried, but got shut up by Sooyeon's tut-tutting.  
"Are you so weak-hearted that you fall in love with the first person that shows interest in you? You disgust me. And your human disgusts me even more. She should be taken care of."  
Soojung stayed quiet. The conversation ended. Sooyeon had won, and she knew, because she was grinning. That evening she promised to catch some prey for her, because she wanted their relationship to become better again. Soojung could only nod. It only too her an hour to return with two bodies. A handsome man — Sooyeon preferred to catch handsome men, because they taste better she claims — and a woman for Krystal. She was short-haired like Amber, had the same clothing style as her too, and the same hair colour. Light brown. Amber's resembled that too, now that her red had faded out. The sight of the girl laying on the ground, in a hopeless mess of limbs bended in a hurtful angle and in her own pool of blood, Soojung's stomach turned. Never had the smell of blood repulsed her so much.  
"Drink, Soojung. It'll strengthen you up. Maybe now you can forget about that stupid little girl."

_______________________________________________________

That night, Krystal returned to Amber, her stomach so full of freshly purchases blood that she felt like puking. Sooyeon had made her drink the whole thing. She let herself fall in Amber's arms and didn't talk. Her girlfriend felt her completely, and let her stay with her in bed. They didn't speak, they only cuddled. Krystal felt too bad to speak, and Amber knew that she wouldn't cheer her up by asking. So they exchanged hugs, and once in a while a soft kiss upon the head or the cheek. Later that night, Amber fell asleep against her shoulder.

Half past the night, Krystal's eyes shot open of an sudden sound. Her breath stocked in her throat while she listened. The creaking of a door, the turning of a lock...  
Luna and Sulli were both in their rooms, if she remembered correctly. Victoria wouldn't come home until next month. There was no one else who had a key.  
"Amber.. Amber..." she whispered. Krystal shook her arm, but her girlfriend only woke up slowly. With a few moans, she turned around in the bed, now turning her back towards the brunette.  
"I want to sleep.." she murmeled. Krystal kept shaking her arm softly.  
"Amber, I think I heard something," she said. Amber moaned and turned back. Her eyes were open just wide enough to see her in the dark.  
"Isn't it Luna or Sulli going to get a glass of water? Or to pee or something," she suggested, with a voice that was still hoarse from sleep. Krystal shook her head furiously. She pinched Amber's arm.  
"It was the front door. Only the front door cracks."  
This made Amber sit up right in her bed. Krystal sat up straight too, while she watched how the brunette got out of bed, and put on some more presentable clothes. Amber quickly put on some jogging pants and a sweater.  
"I'm going to look for you, okay? I'm sure it's nothing though."   
Krystal nodded, and stayed in bed. It was probably nothing, her ears must play tricks with her. Maybe the blood had had a weird effect on her brain. It often occured that when a person had a certain desease, that it would work on her body for a day or two too.  
Amber opened the door from her bedroom slowly, so that the wood wouldn't crack. Right before she got out, she couldn't help to grab her baseball bat — just in case. Krystal watched her girlfriend step out of the room, and turn into the way of the living room. Slowly, trying to make as little sounds as she could, she made her way to the sound Krystal had heared. Her naked feet made sticky sounds on the wood of their apartment, and with every step she cringed. With the baseball bat raised, she entered the living room. There were no lights burning and only the moonlight that shone through the windows lightened the room. Amber looked from the left to the right, but didn't see anything. She dropped her baseball bat by her side, and let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding.  
At the moment she wanted to turn around and call back to Krystal that it probably was the wind that had scared her, she saw a shadow rush out of a corner of the room form the corner of her eye. Before she could make a sound, she felt a hand around her throat, and nails digging into her skin. The force was so big that she stumbled backwards until her back hit a wall. Because of the hit, the air was blown out of her lungs. Gasping for breath, Amber tried to get a hold of the situation. Her eyes found the person who had pushed her, and still had her throat caught in her hands. The fingers squeezed hard enough for her windpipe to be squashed together. Amber had trouble breathing.  
The person was smaller than she was, so she had to look down. Two eyes met hers, and she strangely got a déjà-vu sort of feeling. When she looked longer to the pretty face, she knew why. It looked like Krystal's.  
"Hello, Amber. Finally we meet," the person said. When she lifted her upper lip, two fangs were visible. A bright smile appeared on her face. With her free hand she touched her cheek. Amber tried to turn away, but her head was held in place by the strong grip.  
"Don't turn away from me now. You don't turn away from my sister, do you? Then you shouldn't turn away from me. Let's have fun, just the two of us."


	9. Don't look back

Krystal had listened carefully, following the sounds Amber's feet made on the wooden floor. She held her breath to concentrate to the fullest. The footsteps continued to what seemed like the living room, then they stopped. Krystal would've felt her heart beat loudly in her chest if it hadn't died decades ago. It made the moment even creepier.  
Careful footsteps again. It seemed like Amber had turned around, maybe? Krystal bit on her lip and listened. She just wanted to get out of bed when she suddenly heard a second pair of footsteps. Alarmed, Krystal jumped out of bed. She knew it was a bad idea to let Amber go on her own, she should've come with her, or not let her go at all. The bump of Amber's back hitting the wall was mixed with the thud on the floor when Krystal got out of bed and sounded therefor even louder to Krystal's sensitive ears. She opened the door and ran towards the living room. Her eyes were widened of fear, and her head turning from left to right, desperate to see everything that was going on in the room. She saw how Sooyeon had pressed Amber up against the wall, her delicate fingers wrapped around her girlfriend's neck, pinching hard enough for Amber to have trouble with breathing. Her heart dropped at the sight of her relative, choking her girlfriend to death. And she didn't even bother to look up to her, until the moment Krystal screeched her name. Sooyeon turned her head around, without taking her hand off of Amber's neck.  
"Oh, Soojung. What a surprise to see you here. I hoped you wouldn't be around, but maybe it is better if you see this."  
"See what?" Krystal sneered. Her voice had dropped low, and an intense hate started to form in her belly for her sister. Sooyeon just chuckled, and signaled back to Amber, who was now clawing at her hands, desperate to get them off her throat.  
"K-krystal," she managed to get out, in a voice that was barely audible because of the lack of oxygen in her lungs. Krystal hadn't noticed before, but her lips started to turn blue. In horror she watched how her girlfriend started to breathe faster and faster, hoping to get a little bit of extra air that way.  
"She calls you 'Krystal'? What a stupid name," Sooyeon laughed. In a fit of rage, she lunged forewards and grabbed Sooyeon by her shirt. She pushed her away from Amber, and slammed her body into the wall a few metres from her, out of her reach. Amber fell on the ground, panting and coughing and desperately clawing for air. Krystal cringed at the sounds. Sooyeon only smiled, even though it must've heard when Krystal had pushed her away from Amber, but she showed no sign of uneasiness. Instead, she seemed to be pleased with the way Krystal was acting. She hadn't noticed that she had her upper lip pulled up to reveal her fangs, like a wild animal would do when it was about to attack, only when Sooyeon's eyes fluttered down to her mouth to look at the result of her actions. Krystal clutched Sooyeon's blouse between her fingers, lifting it up a little bit. Sooyeon did not attempt to make her let her go, but instead leaned in.  
"What are you going to do, Soojung?" she asked.  
"You shouldn't mess with me right now," Krystal hissed. Her breathing had speeded up, and her exhales slipped through her teeth like angry sissing.  
"Or what? You're going to kill me?" Sooyeon asked innocently. She started to laugh and shook her head. "You don't have the guts to do that."  
"You don't know what I am capable of," Krystal growled. Sooyeon laughed again.  
"I know what you are capable of when you're angry, Soojung. Did you forget I know you the best? We have been together for so long, I know every little piece of you. Or, perhaps, should I be afraid now? Are you willing to hurt me?"  
Her flat hand made contact with Sooyeon's cheek before Krystal even knew she had raised it, and slapped her. Sooyeon's head flung to the left. Her sistérs eyes grew back when the pain started to spread through her cheek, all the way up to her skull. Both sisters were panting  
"Yes."  
Sooyeon raised her eyebrows. The smug grin on her face hadn't faltered and turned brighter. Her sister leaned in some more, until their noses almost touched. It made her cringe. She was usually only so close with Amber, and to have anyone else do it besides her was uncomfertable, even when it was Sooyeon. Krystal's eyes were piercing in hers, not wanting or willing to look away. This would be a mental battle, and she knew it. Who would look away first would loose. Even though her heart ached because she couldn't help Amber, it was too dangerous to let her sister go now.  
"Can I tell you a secret? I am, I am scared of you. And so will Amber be," her sister whispered. For a split second, Krystal's eyes widened. She recovered quickly, but Sooyeon had already seen it. Her sister started to laugh again, and bowed back. Krystal could literally slap herself. Of course this was exactly what Sooyeon had wanted.  
"Don't listen to her, Krystal, I am not scared of you."  
Amber's voice sounded hoarse and croaked when she spoke. It was painful to hear her speak, but she couldn't look around to check upon her just yet. She pretended her sister's words didn't hurt her, but they had. Sooyeon indeed knew her, because she hadn't told her that her worst fear was to be feared by Amber. Sooyeon only had to take a look at her once to know that that thought was the fear that had been occupying her for months. Amber also knew her, perhaps less good than Sooyeon, but she knew her too, because her girlfriend felt perfectly that this affected her in a bad way.  
"You don't know her. And you don't know me anymore," Krystal said coldly. "And I don't know what you tried to accomplish tonight, but it isn't working, Sooyeon. Go home."  
Sooyeon laughed. It sounded hollow to Krystal's ears. Lonely, almost. Krystal almost felt sorry for her. Almost.  
"And what? Stay there, and wait for you to come back so we can fight again? You know that when it comes down to a fight, one of us is going to loose, and no matter who it will be, I will take Amber with me."  
Krystal's fingers curled firmer around Sooyeon's shirt. Her eyes had widened in utter disgust, her nose pads widened. She had trouble breathing evenly, and often held in her breath to not spew out every curse word she had in her vocabulary.  
"You're sick," she eventually managed to get out, with just enough self control to not say anything else.  
"No, Soojung, you are. Dating a human? What were you thinking? You know it's going to go wrong some day. Better to be it today, and return with me, before I leave you."  
"Y-you leave me?" Krystal breathed. Her voice was light and airy, out of pure anger. Her whole body was shaking of wanting to hurt her sister. She wanted to slap her, and hurt her as much as she hurted her for the past few months. She didn't want to kill her, but if she should have been given the question whether to stay with Sooyeon or with Amber, she wouldn't think twice.  
Sooyeon smiled. She brought up her hand and touched Krystal's cheek, charassing it. Krystal took her head away and shook her hand off, not in the mood to be touched by Sooyeon. She was able to rip her hand off, instead of lean into her touch.   
"Yes, my dearest sister. What are you going to do if I am not with you anymore to support you?"  
"Live a happy life," she spew to her, accompanied with a few drops of saliva. Sooyeon whiped her face, still smiling. It drove Krystal mad that she couldn't whipe her sister's smile off her face. Wasn't there something she could do to hurt her equally, like she had hurt her?   
"I am not going to let that happen."  
Krystal's raised her eyebrows.   
"You are not going to let me be happy?"  
"I am not going to let you be happy with her," Sooyeon replied. Her voice had dropped a little, her eyes became darker. She nodded towards Amber, who still was having diffeculty breathing. Or maybe she just didn't know what to do and pretended to, not wanting to get in between the two heated vampires. Krystal wished she'd just leave, this was something between her and her sister. And she was ashamed of how Sooyeon behaved.   
"I really don't get why you're such an asshole," Krystal huffed. "What did she ever do wrong to you? If humans are so annoying to you, nothing more than an ant under your shoes, then why do you even care about her? Let me be, let us be. I am not holding you back from your own happiness, Sooyeon."   
Sooyeon's grin faltered for a moment. The corners of her mouth lowered until they barely formed a smile on her face. Krystal watched her, not quite understanding, because this had been more of a plea than something to bring her down.   
"You really don't know, do you?" Sooyeon said, softer than before. Krystal stayed silent.  
"Did you even think about me when you were with her? Did you even consider coming home to spend time with me when it wasn't completely necessary? Did you realize how lonely I was?"   
Krystal's eyes widened, first because she didn't understand, but while Sooyeon talked and talked, it hit her.   
"We used to do everything together. Spend our days together. Hunt together, eat together, go to the cinema together, buy hordes of new magazines to read all at once together just so we could see the employees stare at us with confused gazes. We were sisters."  
"We are sisters," Krystal corrected her. Sooyeon looked up to her with a gaze of sadness. She chuckled for a moment.   
"We are not, and have never been. I made that up when I found you, because we looked alike enough to be family."  
Krystal's mouth dropped by hearing those words. Her grip at Sooyeon's shirt loosened a bit, and she almost took her hand back. Confusedly, she stared at her sister, who couldn't look at her of shame. Krystal shook her head in disbelief.  
"T-then what about the stories of our parents? You said you remembered them, you told me so much about them," she managed to get out.   
"I knew my parents, not yours. Everything I told about them is true, but they just aren't your parents, and I never saw them. I sought for your relatives, to get height of what kind of girl I transformed. But they didn't even once looked for you, and I never found them," she said. Krystal started to feel so light-headed that she could faint.  
"Y-you ca-can't remember them. We don't re-remember anything when we are transformed, you are wrong," she stuttered. Krystal's grip strengthened again. This could not be true. They were sisters, and her parents were not some sort of story to console her freshly transformed self. That couldn't be. Sooyeon's face turned darker than before. Her eyes were almost lit with fire now.   
"Who said I remembered them? I was told about them by the person who changed me."  
"W-who changed you?" Krystal blurted out. She had always thought that she and Sooyeon were transformed by the same vampire at the same time, and that they therefor found each other when they woke up. Now that she knew that wasn't true, she didn't know what to think. By now she was so confused that she could barely think. She didn't want to believe just yet that Sooyeon was right. She couldn't be.   
"I was part of another group once. Eight other girls, just like us. Their leader changed me. But a few decades after I was transformed, they kicked me out. You remember what you were like, only 30 years old, right? I was young and hopeless and desperate for someone to help me. Then I found you on the streets, lost, sick, about to die of starvation. And I did it..."  
Tears had formed in Sooyeon's eyes, and she so desperately tried to hold them in. It was in vain; a few moments later they spilled over her cheeks. Krystal could just feel the love and bitterness because of her old friends radiate off her; she had never stopped loving them. Sooyeon bit her lip not to sob. Krystal's eyebrows furrowed and her throat clenched. Suddenly she understood her sister, and her everlasting need to be with someone, to be consoled and cured of the loneliness by someone else, whether it be her former group memebers or Krystal. She had been so lonely that she ripped Krystal's life from her, and transformed her, told her lies to keep her with her, and was now so desperate again to do whatever it took to let Krystal stay with her, even if that meant killing Amber. Krystal couldn't believe her ears.  
Her anger turned in compassion, even when she had been threatened several times this night, even when Sooyeon had almost killed her girlfriend, even when she had discovered that her whole life had been a string of lies.  
She hated her, yet she loved her. Sooyeon had been so long part of her life and they had gone through so much together that it was impossible to get mad at a girl who was so desperate for love, yet was left by the people she loved every time. She was lonely and had a large heart, but didn't know how to act accordingly. Sooyeon didn't know how to love, and she didn't have a person like Amber to teach her. And even though they had just gone through hell Krystal couldn't just put her sister aside. They were family. You didn't need to be biological relatives to be siblings.  
Krystal let Sooyeon's blouse go; it let creases behind in the form of her hand in the silky fabric, and placed both of her hands upon Sooyeon's cheeks, to make her look up to her. Her eyes were still wet, and so were her cheeks. Her lower lip was trembling of the sobs that she tried to hold in. She noticed that her sister shook. Never before had she seen Sooyeon so sad, so helpless. It scared her a little bit. Sooyeon had always been the greater one of them two; she was the person who consoled Krystal, not the other way around. It felt weird to reassure her this time. But it felt better too, much better. Maybe, for once, she'd be treated as an equal.  
She whiped the tears off her face with her thumb.  
"Look at me," she said, because Sooyeon still turned her gaze away. She looked up to her little sister, with those big puppy eyes which were almost identical to Krystal's. The pain in her eyes was almost perceptible.  
"I am not going to leave you. You are my sister. And you'll stay my sister, no matter what," she said. "Even after all the shit you pulled out, I would never leave you. Family always stays together."  
Tears started to roll down her cheeks again, and Krystal whiped them away as much as she could. A small smile appeared on the younger sister's lips.  
"But I am not going to accept how you behaved to Amber. I want us to start over again, a new life, a new chapter in our story. And I want Amber to be part of that."  
Sooyeon gulped audibly, and moved her gaze away. She bit down on her lower lip. Krystal lowered her hands, and ran with them through her hair for a moment.  
"Those are my conditions, Sooyeon. Please accept them. Please accept us."  
Sooyeon sighed. She brought up her hands to whipe her face. Krystal knew it was a way to get control of herself, and of the situation if she had a chance, again. After taking a few deep breaths and adjusting her hair and blouse, she turned towards Amber. Her girlfriend was still scared, yet didn't avert her eyes.  
"Because of Soojung, I will accept you now. But that doesn't mean I like y-"  
Before she could even finish her sentence, Krystal lunged herself at her, and hugged her tightly from behind. Sooyeon made a suffocating sound, and tried to pry her sister's arms off her waist, but Krystal just hugged her tighter. She placed her head upon Sooyeon's back, and closed her eyes.  
"Don't worry, that'll come."  
"I don't want it to come," Sooyeon sighed, eye rolling. Krystal chuckled.  
"Do you think I wanted it to come? She just has a charm you won't be able to resist."  
"Oh, don't you worry, I think I can contain myself," snickered her sister. Krystal laughed too. Both sisters sighed. Sooyeon didn't try to beak the hug anymore, and just let her sister hug her. A relieved feeling spread through Krystal's body. She couldn't help but to feel at least a little bit happy. This whole night had been one rollercoaster of emotions, but in the end, she found herself not minding it. Everything was alright again, and everything was going to be better.

That proved in the months that followed. Sooyeon, Krystal and Amber became closer with every day that passed. At first, her sister had to get used a lot Amber and Krystal's relationship. They mainly kept their distance, because the sisters were still trying to settle for a life without lies. But their lives soon turned back to the old, and Krystal spent — to Amber's disliking — more time home again, so she could rebuild her relationship with Sooyeon. Now that the lies were cleared out, Sooyeon seemed to have lost a burden. She laughed more, and it did Krystal good to see her so happy.  
Krystal slowly brought Amber into her life. They at first had only stayed in the dorm, because that was the most safe place to go. Now that Sooyeon didn't form a threat anymore, Krystal decided to bring her over to their house once.  
Sooyeon had been very tense the first time, but she hadn't leashed out at her girlfriend. She was allowed to sit on the couch, albeit with her legs crossed over each other and her hands placed on her lap. Whenever they'd touch, even if it was simply holding hands, then she'd shoot them a warning gaze. Krystal rather didn't provoke her sister any more, and just took her hand away. They had to take small steps. Holding hands was too much just yet..  
The first time had been uncomfertable and uneasy, for all of them, but in the end, Krystal couldn't be prouder of her sister who had basically accepted Amber into their home. The couple still decided that they should meet up in the dorm the greater deal of the time, but that it was good if Sooyeon could get used to her. So they came over together more and more. First only once a month, then once in a fortnight. Eventually every week. More than that wouldn't do, because Sooyeon was already snippy as it was. She didn't like it that Amber came over a lot, but Krystal caught her sometimes laughing at her jokes or her comments she made about the movie they were watching, or the game they were playing. It was often only a small smirk, because she so desperately tried to keep a straight face, but clearly noticable when you paid attention. When Krystal would smile back, she would roll her eyes.  
They were allowed to hold hands, eventually. And when they stole a kiss from each other when Amber left to go back to the dorm, Sooyeon didn't stop them, even though she had defenitely seen it.  
"You know, that girl is a good kid. I'd still rather have that you didn't hang with her," she once admitted.  
"And why not?"  
"Because I say so."  
Krystal had snickered and rolled her eyes.  
"You just don't know a good argument why I shouldn't date her. She's very nice, just admit it," she laughed. Sooyeon shot her a gaze.  
"I don't like it because you're my little sister. And if anyone is the best person for you, then it's me, and not Amber. No one is good enough for you," she said. "Oh, and I will never admit that she's nice. She'll stay forever a cheeky brat."

It took a while, but eventually their lives settled down again. Amber promoted Shake that Brass, and was gone for almost a full month, so Krystal had to miss her for a while, but during the time she was at the dorm for a few hours of sleep, Krystal noticed how happy performing made her. The fans were more enthousiastic, and she had to be more careful entering the building now, but that was worth it to see her girlfriend happier.  
And with the regularity returning into their daily scedules, they were able to get used to a life of three, instead of two. Sooyeon accepted Amber more and more, until a point where her hatred for humans was decreasing. Her sister used to have this burning passion to hate everyone on the world, except herself and Krystal. No, that wasn't entirely true, she reckoned; she hated everyone except Krystal. And she had passed that idea onto Krystal herself, until the moment she had met a certain girl that hadn't been scared of her, and looked past all of that, deep into her soul. From that moment she realized her sister had been deeply wronged too many times in her life, making her bitter, lonely and paranoid. Perhaps it was jealousy the most that drove her mad and angered her about the world. She wasn't able to live a normal life like humans anymore, she wasn't able to die anymore, and all she wanted was to get rid of those terrible feelings that haunted her when the sun went down.  
Krystal never imagined that Sooyeon found someone to take care of her too. A human, in fact. He was a handsome gentleman that she once met whilst strolling through town, actually hunting. They had met eyes, and Sooyeon had sweared that her heart had exploded from all the fireworks in her body. He was a man that was exactly her sister's style; handsome and chique, looking the best in suits and tuxedo's, liked to drink a glass of whiskey at night, so that there was a hint of alcohol on his lips that was addicting. Always a little bit of scruff on his face, with dark eyes that could gaze deep into your soul. Black hair combed back, with the sides cut short. He was a smooth talker, had a lot of social skills and was quite intelligent. But most of all, he made my sister laugh. Krystal didn't think she had ever seen her sister laugh so richly ever before. His name was Hyde.  
Krystal didn't like Hyde, for the exact same reasons Sooyeon didn't like Amber. But Hyde and Amber seemed to get along very well. Amber brought up the dorkiness in him, and Hyde made Amber look even handsomer. A series of double dates were born, which were sometimes hard to cope with. Amber and Hyde were the kind of significant others that loved to surprise their women, and did quite a lot. One time, Hyde had secretly taken Amber out to shop for clothes. They turned up in equal suits, both fitting perfectly to their body. The sisters had reacted equally enthousiastic, and they made sure they were alone for the rest of the evening after the movie had ended. Those suits were just too hot to let Amber and Hyde wear.  
Krystal didn't like to see Hyde in their house, but to see Sooyeon happy was enough to make up for it. In the mean time, her sister was less bothered when Amber came over too. The sisters had finally found peace in their lives, together with their lovers. It had taken a while. A full year since Krystal met Amber, and decades since Krystal met Sooyeon. But the waiting had been worth it.  
And for now, it was enough. Living their lives together, all four of them, with nothing in particulair to worry about, at least, not when they were together. They hadn't felt as good in their whole lives than they did now. Krystal couldn't be happier.


	10. Epilogue: Follow the sun

I used to think that I knew what Amber meant when she told me that people love each other in different ways. It turns out, that I didn't. I realized that when Sooyeon had her hand clasped around Amber's throat, slowly squeezing more and more until my girlfriend made choking sounds, in desperate need for air.  
At that moment, I hated her. I thought that she didn't love me at all. But that wasn't true. I only realized that after the moment she broke down. Even though her love might be the product of something entirely else than lust, raw pure love, like it was the case with Amber. Sooyeon was desperate to be left again, and I was the person who prevented her from being alone. For a person who has nothing but her sister, it must've felt like a slap in the face when I left her for Amber.

I didn't regret leaving her for Amber. The short-haired girl was someone who brightened up my life in the darkest of times. She was there when I cried and when I felt happy, in good and in bad. She was the first human who wasn't scared of my appearance, but intrigued. She was interested and wanted to help me, when no one else would. Sooyeon wasn't a person who helped one if they felt bad. Amber, on the other hand, would go overboard if she came to know that I felt bad. Perhaps it was the feeling of being completely dependent of someone that made me fall in love with her. To know that Amber wanted me with every vessel in her body was such a nice feeling that I couldn't refuse.  
The love Sooyeon had shown me over the years seemed nothing in what Amber could make me feel. She made me feel alive and for a long time, my mind was clouded with my love for Amber. I couldn't think of anyone else.  
When I look back upon it, I feel sorry for my sister for the way I treated her. My feelings won't make up for the harsh words I said to her, or the things I made her feel.  
Understand me well, Sooyeon's actions were not justified because I mistreated her. I will not forgive her harsh words towards Amber nor her attempt to harm and kill her. But I have more sympathy towards her now.  
For years I used to think that Sooyeon was a person with no doubts, a woman who was always confident and took the role of perfect older sister upon her like it suited her. Now I know she isn't even my biological sister nor is she as strong as I pictured her to be. That is mainly my fault, because I didn't want to beyond that mask.  
I am sorry for the way Sooyeon has been treated by me, and Sooyeon has apologized for the way she treated me. We cleared up the air, and our bond became even better than before.

The types of love between Amber and me and Sooyeon and me is completely different. I used to think there was only one way to love. I thought I knew how to love, because I had read so many books that talked about love. Amber showed me that I was completely wrong, and when I thought I knew how love worked after falling in love with her, Sooyeon proved me wrong again.  
After that, I still don't know how love works and I will not try to understand it a second time. This whole adventure has taught me that love is unpredictable, that it comes in ways you cannot imagine.  
I once persued love, I wanted to find and unravel it's mystery. Now, after meeting Amber and discovering my sister's true personality, I try not to persue it anymore. I let love find its way to me.  
Even when you're a vampire, love will find a way. I thought it wasn't possible for me, but I was wrong. Love always finds a way.


End file.
